The Hunter and the Hunted Book 2: Falling
by Silver tongued Poet
Summary: After closing the gate to Hell, the brothers go off to try and recapture the Yellow Eyed Demon's army while they drag Bella back to her adoptive home town of Forks. When Dean's deal and their forced separation become too much for Bella, who will she turn to?
1. No Chick Flick Moments

**A/N: So Fanfiction won't let me start a new story without submitting a chapter so you guys get the Prologue a whole week early!**

**Which, to be honest, I think you guys deserve it! So here it is! I will post the cover art (done by my amazing co writer Iclethea btdubs) as well as the revised title when I find out from my co writer as well (because we have worked on this story so much that I have forgotten it!) tomorrow but for now you will just have to settle yourselves with the prologue.**

**Now my personal disclaimer is that if you haven't read Origin's yet, which is really a super long prologue to this book, then please do. It is a really good story and will explain a lot of background information that has led us up to this point, so do me a favor and go to my page and find it then come back here! **

**So without further a due... let's get started! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or Twilight, they belong to their respective owners, all that I lay claim to is the alterations! **

**Prologue: No Chick Flick Moments**

**July 2, 2007**

**Dean POV**

Mission accomplished… well almost I guess.

We had killed the demon, everything that we had worked for. So many years of searching and fighting and killing monsters we had finally gotten our revenge.

But now Dad was dead… and I might as well be.

I had done what Dad asked me to do, I protected Sam and Bella, they were dead what else was I supposed to do? Yeah, they were pissed at me but they would get over it. Sam was mad, I could deal with that, it was Bella that I worried about.

She worried about me more than anyone else did, and took on the responsibility of it being her fault that I made the deal in the first place. It's been almost three weeks since we got out of that cemetery. We hadn't spoken much about the deal, every time we did it ended up in a big argument between me and Sam and Bella would try to get us to work out our differences. Yeah, those were the _fun_ times….

So we got back to work, hunting things, mostly tacking down the 200 or more demons that Jake had set loose on the Earth. More _fun _times…. But at least there wasn't much arguing involved in that.

We'd just stopped off at Bobby's for a little R&R and I had taken up the opportunity to give baby a tune up. I had rotated the tires and was busy aligning them when someone kicked my foot.

"Hey." A tangled mess of light brown hair appeared as Bella knelt down and I could see a shiny brown bottle in her hand and she was shaking it at me. I came out from under the car and smirked at her. Thankfully she hadn't burst into tears after that first episode. I couldn't stand to see my little sister cry.

"Hey you…." I grinned back. "You brought my beverage of choice I see."

"Yes I did." She popped the top and handed it to me. Then dragged over an upturned bucket for herself to sit on and popped the top on the second bottle.

We sat in silence for a while, drinking, like that was a normal thing to do. Bella and I got along better than Sam and I on the best of days. She hunted because she wanted to do. Sam hunted for revenge, for Jessica. But now that that revenge had been carried out, what would he do now?

He had literally thrown himself into research on demon deals. I couldn't make that idiot understand that if we tried to get out of the deal that they both would die again and who knows what would happen to me.

But Bella… well she had a life before hunting. Sam and I were raised in this business. I took down my first monster by the time that Sam was learning to walk on his own. I've been solely dedicated to hunting since I was four years old. I literally can't remember thinking about anything else before then, no aspirations of being something else, Sam had already tried the college route and got sucked back into the life, and it was his choice to stay here. But Bella…?

"There's something that I've been meaning to ask you." I asked quietly, not taking my eyes off my beer.

"What?"

"Did you ever want something different? Like to be something other than a hunter?" She could have that, she could have a life, go to college, get married, have a family, and she could have a future. Something Sam and I could never have.

She snorted and I looked up to see her grinning at me. "Like going to school, like Sam?"

"You could, you know. You still can, don't you have a friend that's going to college?" I knew she had told me about her friends back in Forks but I barely remembered their names.

"I can't." She looked down and traced the lip of her beer. "It's too late now. I'm into hunting. They won't leave me alone."

"Sam left, you could have too. Nothing bugged him." Not until Bella and I showed up at his door that is.

"I didn't want to…." She bit her lip. "I mean, I wanted to hunt." When Sam had left Dad didn't have much to say about me or Bella going off on our own. He really didn't have anything much to say about it actually. But I had never thought to ask Bella if she _wanted_ to go off on her own. Now I guess I have my answer.

"I just think that since this is over…. I mean we've made some pretty nasty enemies now that we've ganked ol' Yellow Eyes." Demons were hounding our steps nearly every single day now and then we run into the hunters that heard rumours about the Winchester's opening a Hell Gate and were on the lookout for us too. It's too dangerous for her to be here with us anymore. No one knew Bella was our sister, she could escape, and she could have a normal life. Even if someone recognized her, she had that freaky changing appearance thing like the blue chick from X-men. She could change and slip away. Anyway you looked at it, she had a way out.

"It won't be over. It'll never be." She gave me a grim smile, I guess she was right, it wouldn't take them long to find her. They would use her to get to Sam and me, and I couldn't stand to see that happen but she wouldn't be alone if she went back with Charlie. Charlie could protect her.

"That's what I'm saying Bella, maybe you should go back to Charlie's and, I don't know, have a life? I mean, I'm not going to be here much longer…. In my last few days I want to see my sister happy." It was a low blow I know but I wanted her to be happy.

Her lip trembled a little and a tear fell from her eye. That nearly killed me. I didn't want to see her cry. "There'll always be demons to fight. And 200 demons just got released from that gate. I need to fight."

I snorted and kicked the bucket under her. "You are too much like me and Dad for your own good." I knew there was going to be no way of convincing her to leave us. I guess I couldn't blame her.

She let out a quiet sob. "Dean, I can't lose you…. You're my big brother. I love you."

"You aren't gonna lose me yet." I sighed and put my arm around her, she really started crying then, soaking my t-shirt and she hugged me closer.

"Yet you're trying to ship me off to Charlie, where I won't see you. And in a years' time, I'll get a phone call, or Sam at the door, telling me you died…."

"Bella, promise me that you won't try and help me weasel out of the deal, I can't lose you again." I bit my lip to keep from crying myself. She didn't need to see me cry too, I hugged her closer. I needed to be strong I needed to be a leader for her.

"I can't let you die." She mumbled into my shirt.

"We will figure something out, just don't try and make a crossroads deal okay?" I couldn't think about her standing in a crossroads, making a deal. "As much as the two of you freaked about me making one I'd hate to see Sam rip into you like that."

"Have you even thought about how you're going to go?" She looked up at me, her eyes already getting red around the edges. "Hellhounds…." She whispered.

"I'm going to make it hard for them to get me." I winked at her. Surely there were ways to fend off a hellhound. I haven't looked in all of Bobby's books yet, or in Dad's journal.

"They'll tear you to shreds…." She started crying again, shaking a little.

"Stop being such a Johnny Rain Cloud!" I groaned. "It's depressing and I don't want to talk about it. I'd rather get back to work, like you said it never stops. There's always going to be something to hunt." And I would keep fighting until I breathed my last.

"It's pretty depressing to know your big brother, who you've known all your life, only has a year to live." She muttered punching me lightly.

"Correction, you didn't even know I was alive till you were 13." I shoved her back playfully.

"You're an asshole." She shoved me back, giggling a little.

"I wouldn't have it any other way Izzy." I sighed and held onto her for a little bit longer, just enjoying the moment.

"Love you big brother." She sighed a bit later, hugs tighter to me.

"Okay enough with the chick flick moments…." I stood up and took our bottles as I kicked the bucket out from under her and she landed on her butt in the gravel.

"I'm a chick. Deal with it jerk." She got up and brushed the gravel off of her pants and followed me to the house.

"NOOGIE!" I grabbed her head and suck it under my arm and messed up her hair.

She started screaming and swatted at my back and chest with her arms. "DEAN! YOU ASS! LET ME GO!"

"Nope, you are stuck with me kid" I walked her back to the house like that and had to be careful not to make her trip. She was still muttering threats under her breath as I continued to ruffle her hair.

"Nah, you wouldn't do that to your big brother would you, your loving big brother who you care about so much?" I gave her that cocky grin that she hated so much.

"No you don't get to play that card, I'm still mad at you." She frowns as she hugs me again. I grin back at her, wishing more than anything that I could spare her from the heartaches of seeing me die. But that would have to wait for another day because as soon as we got inside Sam was looking up a new case for us and we were back on the road again.

**So that's the jumping off point for Book 2, I hope you liked it! It was chock full of fluffy Dean Bella sibling bonding stuff which makes everyone happy and I will see you guys next week! **


	2. Back to Basics

**A/N: Yay new chapter time! And how about that new snazzy book cover made by my awesome co-writer?! *claps* **

**I hope you guys are ready for a new one! After the Dean/Bella family bonding what's in store for our favorite characters?**

**Chapter 1: Back to Basics**

**July 22, 2007**

**Bella POV**

I tried to take deep breaths as we entered the city limits of my adopted hometown, Forks Washington, I suppressed a groan.

We had been hunting for two months and weren't making any progress chasing down the demons that got out of the Hell gate. We had just left Bobby's and They were going to make a detour through Washington State to drop me off and then were heading to Ohio to investigate omen's that Sam had found while Dean and Bobby were trying to fix the Colt. Apparently after using it as a key and then shooting the Yellow Eyed Demon with it had messed it up one way or another. That's just our luck, we find a weapon that can kill anything, the ultimate ace in the hole, and it breaks the first time we use it.

Sam and Dean had been nagging me to go back to Charlie's for a week now and every time they brought it up we would get into this long argument. I finally had a few hours to myself yesterday and it gave me time to think about what I wanted to do next.

I wanted to be with my brothers, they needed me, but I also felt like I had a duty to Charlie. I mean the man practically raised me, by himself. I knew it wasn't fair for him to be left alone after all these years. That was part of my reason for leaving.

But I also needed some time away from my brothers. They were great don't get me wrong, it's just that they kept thinking that they knew what I needed and weren't listening to what I wanted. Plus I needed to try and wrap my head around this demon deal of Dean's without having to worry about Sam bugging me about trying to help and Dean not wanting me to fuss over it. And I just needed some 'normal girl' time.

So I took the opportunity to get away, of course Forks was the only option left to me. Dean couldn't take a chance on 'trouble' finding me unprotected and he also knew that Charlie would report in and make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to. Dean thought this would be a good thing for me. I looked out the window, watching everything be taken over by the dense green forest.

"This place hasn't changed much." Dean commented as he looked from side to side appreciating the green.

"Yeah it hasn't." Sam replied in a quiet voice.

"Yup, same old Forks." I frowned.

"C'mon Bella, cheer up." Dean grinned at me from the rear view window. He's trying to be supportive, but he wasn't the one being sent thousands of miles away from where he wanted to be was he?

"Would you be so cheery if you were being sent to exile?" I stared out the window morosely.

"We're not sending you to exile." I could practically hear Sam roll his eyes. I couldn't think of anything to say, they both knew as well as I did that this was what they wanted I could see that their shoulders were more relaxed and their banter was more light-hearted now than it has been in the past.

"Hey, you'll get to see Charlie again, how long has it been since we saw him?" Dean broke through my brooding.

"A few years, at least." Sam replied.

"It'll be great to see him again." I smiled happily. My adoptive father nearly screamed like a giddy school girl when I told him I was coming home. He had rambled off the thousands of things that he wanted to do with me as soon as I got back into town. I tried to assure him that I didn't want him to go crazy with the welcome home stuff. But you know Charlie… he's got more than 11 years of catching up to do. We pulled up outside the small two bedroom house and I felt like I was 13 years old again. So much had happened between now and then, I was a different person, a new person.

"Come on, I'll get your stuff." Dean remarked as he opened his car door and walked to the trunk. I sighed and got out of the car.

I heard the front door creak open and I turned to see Charlie coming out of the house. "Bells?"

"Hey Charlie." I smiled; he looked similar but different than I remembered. He had put on a few more pounds since last time, his hair was thinner but he still had that gleam in his eyes seemingly too young for his much older features.

"It's so good to see you Bella." He opened his arms wide for a hug. I smiled as I obliged. "Boys." Charlie nodded.

"Charlie." Sam and Dean smiled, Dean on his best behaviour and Sam being his lovable self. Charlie offered them his hand without letting go of me, making the awkward hug last just a _little_ bit longer.

"Come inside. We've got some catching up to do." Charlie couldn't stop smiling as he led me up the walkway and into the house.

We were sitting in the small front room chatting casually about monsters and how many kills we had made like it was just another Sunday afternoon. "How have you been Charlie?"

"I've been good." Charlie replied. I smiled as I put my head on his shoulder. "So what's been going on with you guys?"

Dean grinned. "Well first of all, ol' Yellow Eyes is dead."

"You killed the demon?" The awe in Charlie's voice said it all, so did the big smile that was sweeping across his face.

"Yeah." Dean was still smiling.

"Well, congratulations are in order." Charlie patted my leg and went to get some beers, when he returned we all clinked our beers in a toast. "I'd say your Dad is over the moon." Charlie smiled as he took one more sip of his beer. He didn't notice that the three of us had sobered up and were looking down at our beers sadly. "Oh, right." He cleared his throat. "How long has it been?"

"Dad died about eight months ago… We just miss him." I replied.

"Here's to Dad, wherever the hell he is." Dean raised his beer again and downed the rest of it.

"I thought your dad made a deal?" Charlie questioned.

"He escaped. A devil's gate was opened before we managed to kill Yellow Eyes." Dean informed him matter-of-factly.

"A devil's gate?" Charlie seemed shocked. "I guess that's the reason for the increase in demon activity. So John's spirit escaped? Where'd it go?"

"We don't know." Sam frowned.

"It brings up the question doesn't it? Can one crawl out of hell?" Dean mused over his now empty bottle. Sam and I turned to glare at him and Charlie raised his eyebrows.

"Well, seems like everyone's got a big secret but me, I feel kinda left out." Charlie remarked as he rolled his eyes.

"Dean made a deal Charlie." I looked out the window, not wanting to see his reaction.

"What, why?!" Charlie didn't seem as upset as the rest of us. But then again, he didn't know Dean as well as I did. They maybe had two or three conversations a year and usually it's when I'm on the phone with Charlie.

"God, do we really have to rehash this all over again…." Dean groaned and sat down his beer.

"Yes we do. What could possibly make you do that?" Charlie was upset but not outraged. I'm sure he was only acting this way for my benefit.

"Bella and Sam dying, that's what!" Dean's fuse had been lit and he was explosive about the discussion. It wasn't Charlie's fault though; Dean didn't have to blast him for it.

He swallowed hard before he asked. "How did it happen?"

"An incredibly long story short, Yellow Eyes wanted all the psychic kids to do battle until one was left standing to raise his demon army. Sam and Bella were caught in the crossfire." Dean rubbed his eyes and leaned away from the coffee table.

"A guy called Jake stabbed us both…." I explained further.

"So you made a deal to bring them back? What did you use to barter with? I mean what could a demon possibly want?" Charlie could be so oblivious sometimes.

"My soul." Dean's voice already sounded hollow. "I got a year until the Hellhounds come for me."

"How long do you have left?" Charlie kept the conversation going.

"I have six months."

"Is there any way to..." Charlie struggled to find a word that would fit. "fix it?"

"No, the Crossroads Demon said if I try to get myself out of the deal, Sammy and Bella drop dead." Dean had said this over and over and over again to the point that his expression never changed, his emotion stayed the same. It was as if Charlie had asked him to read off his shopping list. Charlie wrapped his arm around me protectively, as if he could hold back the monsters that would dare try and take me away from him. "So, should we start planning my funeral now or later?" Dean started laughing; it had a morbid tone to it though.

"Dean…." I looked out the window, he was dying and he felt the need to make jokes about it.

"We're gonna have to do it sometime." He was serious this time, and he went into the kitchen to grab another beer.

I waited until he came back before I responded. "I choose later." He just shrugged as he sat back down.

"Why do you want to plan a funeral?" Sam snapped back. "You have no respect for your life now? Why should we care when you die-"

"Damn it Sammy! What do you think people with terminal illness do? Wait around to die? No, they make preparations for their family and make sure they'll be okay." They sat on the same couch, as far away from each other as they could be, not looking at each other.

One big happy family alright….

"I'm just tired of you having this 'Joe Chill' attitude about it." Sam looked down refusing to look at Dean.

"My cards up this time Sammy. It's been up twice already and I dodged the bullet on both occasions."

"Can we not talk about this now?" I finally had to speak up, I was afraid that this feud would only escalate without me being there to defuse the tension. They always did stupid things when they were upset.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, what else is there to talk about, other than my impending _doom_?"

Charlie saw this as his chance to jump in. "Uh, Rachel is in town for a few days, she's on break from school. I told her you would be stopping by."

"That's great! I haven't seen her in years!" I was really excited to see her, it had been so long, and we had so much to talk about. There was the occasional email here and there but it would be nice to have some face to face time with her. I wondered why she had come home though; after her mom died this place kind of became a reminder of that dark night. The three of us bonded over the experience and I always told them that they were more than welcome to call me anytime anywhere I gave them my personal cell number and let them know when I got a new number.

"Can I meet her too?" Dean grinned in that 'I want you to slap me' way.

"She has a boyfriend." I tried to let him down easy. I had a feeling that Rachel wouldn't be his type. Then again, people change over time don't they?

Dean sighed and put his hands behind his head and reclined back. "They all say that… B.D."

"What does that mean?" I smirked at him.

He grinned and replied. "Before Dean."

I sighed. "What am I gonna do with you?"

"And I trusted this yahoo to raise you through the teen years…." Charlie shook his head and took another sip of beer.

Sam and I laughed loudly and eventually Dean joined in. After that mind field conversation we landed on lighter topics and then Sam and Dean packed up and left. I stood out on the porch and watched them until the taillights faded into nothing. I hugged my shoulders as I leaned against the railing. Not bothering to wipe the silent tears streaking down my face away.

When would I see them again?

"Hey kiddo, you wanna go down to the Diner for supper tonight?" Charlie came out onto the porch a few minutes later.

"Yeah sure, I'd like that." I smiled, wiping away the tears. It had been a long time since I had even looked at a stove much less cooked on one. I was better at pulling up to a drive thru and telling the guy what I wanted. It was gonna take a few weeks to get back into the swing of being 'domesticated'.

"Here you guys go." The waitress handed us our food with a smile.

"Thanks." I smiled back as I stared down my mother of all sandwiches that would have made Dean cry tears of joy.

"You're welcome, and when you're done I'll bring you some berry cobbler, your favorite, Charlie still has it, every Thursday." She winked at Charlie.

I laughed as Charlie blushed a little.

"Every Thursday huh?" I smiled as I took a huge bite out of my sandwich.

"Yeah, yeah." Charlie rolled his eyes. "I like cobbler, that's all."

We ate in silence for a while that was how we had always done it. It was almost like nothing had changed. Of course that wasn't the case, I was totally different from the last time I stepped foot in this town.

Once we got back home I went upstairs to check out my old room, it hadn't changed much either. A bigger bed had been put in the place of my smaller one and a desk had been put in front of the window. It only took one trip to get my things upstairs; I tried not to cringe as I passed by the one bathroom that we had to share.

You would think, after sharing a bedroom and a bathroom with two boys for 11 years would make me used to that by now but it was different having to share a bathroom with Charlie. I made a mental note to pick up a toiletry bag for my stuff at the store.

I was impressed; I had actually gone the whole night acting and talking like a normal person. By now Sam and I would be burning the midnight oil researching our latest case and Dean would already be passed out on the bed snoring. I smiled as I unpacked my duffle bag and put my clothes in the drawers and pulled out the laptop that Dean had helped me get last month for my birthday. In a few short seconds I was cruising around on the internet after cracking the security code on the neighbour's Wi-Fi, thank you Sam for teaching me how to break security codes. If he wasn't set on becoming a lawyer he could be a great computer hacker.

I sent Sam an email telling him about my utterly boring night and told them now much I missed them. After that I did my customary sweep of news articles, a force of habit, and found a few possible leads on cases. I opened up a new email and addressed it to Sam and sent him the articles. I bit my lip hesitantly before I hit send, I wasn't looking for cases, but if they were still close by….

I found myself sitting on the bed, drumming my fingers on my stomach with absolutely nothing to do. I didn't realize my plan for being 'normal' would be so boring. I walked downstairs and saw that Charlie was still up watching a football game. I sat down and tried to follow the game play but it was too confusing for me, at least that hadn't changed since the last time I was here.

I waited until a commercial break to look over at him. "Do you think it's too late to call Rachel?"

He checked his watch, I looked at the wall clock it was 8:37. "Nah, I don't think so. She's a college kid right? She's used to staying up late."

"Good, I wanted to see if she wanted to do something tomorrow." I smiled as I got up and went into the kitchen and found Billy's number on the pad beside the phone. I drummed my fingers on the counter as I waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?" I heard a gravelly voice on the other end.

"Is this Billy Black?" I was unsure if I had dialled the right number.

"Yes, who is this?" He didn't seem to recognize me at first.

"I guess you wouldn't remember me, it has been 11 years." I smiled into the receiver.

"Bella?" I heard his smile in response to his realization. "Bella Winchester?"

I laughed. "How have you been old man?!"

"Hey watch it there, I'm still young enough to pull you over my knee and give you a good spanking for that." He laughed at his half threat. "I've been good, Jacob is starting school soon and Rachel is in town for the week on her break."

"That's what Charlie told me, I was going to come down and see her sometime. I'm back at home for a while." I didn't specify my time limit here in exile, I didn't want to hurt Charlie's feelings but I didn't want to be stuck here forever either.

"That's great Bella; we'd love to have you down anytime." I could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"Is Rachel up? I was going to talk with her for a while."

"No, I'm sorry she went to bed early, she had a busy day today. But I'll let her know that you called."

"Oh okay, thanks. I'll talk to you soon Billy."

"I'll see you around kid."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and re-joined Charlie on the couch.

"Did you get a chance to talk to Rachel?" Charlie asked but wasn't paying attention.

"Uh, no, she was asleep, I'm thinking about going down there tomorrow."

"Oh that sounds nice." He nodded silently. "Hey kid, can you get me another beer?"

I sighed and smirked as I got up and went into the kitchen to pull out a beer. I looked at the magnets that cluttered the fridge. I smiled at some of the pictures that were hung in place by the magnets. Some of them were my favorite memories with Charlie as a kid, fishing on the lake, tried it once and decided that fish were too gross and icky for my taste. Then it was the two of us shooting nerfs at the gun range, the guy who took that picture was a deputy of Charlie's, Bob was his name I think. He ended up transferring to a bigger precinct in Port Angeles and died a week later, going down on a drug bust. Charlie was broken up about it, Bob was his favorite co-worker.

I sighed as I moved onto the next picture. I rolled my eyes as I saw it was a picture of me Rachel and Rebecca, and Jacob squeezing in between me and Becca, at the twin's birthday. They had a princess themed party, I think that was their ninth or tenth one. It was a year or two before their mom's car accident. It would be so nice to see Rach again. She and Becca got me through the tough times especially after I found out my parent's died in a house fire.

I tried to focus on the game as I took Charlie his beer but I couldn't keep myself from thinking back to those days in elementary school… all the bullying….

_I could remember walking down the halls after Charlie dropped me off, the whispers and looks that I got from the kids. I would lower my eyes and keep walking, trying to ignore them; the plat in my hair bouncing slightly on my back, Mrs. Black had braided my hair the night before._

"_That's her. She doesn't have a mom or dad." I heard one of them whisper._

_My eyes would fill with tears but I kept walking._

"_What happened to them?" another one asked._

"_Her stupid Dad fell asleep with the stove on and the house burned down." The first kid whispered back._

_It was even worse when the teacher stood up at the end of class and made a speech…._

"_Class, I've been hearing some mean things about one of our students. I just want you to know that we are all different, and no one should be treated differently because of how they were raised and certainly not be bullied because of it."_

_The kids muttered about me and I slumped further down in my chair. _

"_What if their mom or dad did something stupid?" I heard a kid pip up._

"_It doesn't matter, things always happen for a reason." Subtly the teacher threw a comforting glance my way._

_Then the bell rang and the class was over, then a kid pushed me in the hallway._

"_Opsie! Sorry about that." A mean girl knelt down and pushed my books out of my hands._

_I picked up my books and got up. "Leave me alone Charlotte." I frowned at her._

"_Why don't you go home and cry to your daddy? Oh that's right you don't have one." She smirked at me her gang laughed behind her._

"_Stop it." I stomped my foot. "Charlie is who looks after me. He_ is_ my daddy!"_

"_No he isn't, he's just the one that got stuck with you." Charlotte crossed her arms and the girls behind her nodded their heads in agreement._

"_Charlie loves me!" I felt my cheeks getting redder the angrier I got with them._

"_Nope!" Charlotte sung. "He just pretends to!"_

_I couldn't hold it in any longer the madder I got the closer I was to breaking down. I busted into tears and ran to the bathroom. A few minutes after the warning bell sounded a teacher came in looking for me._

"_Is anyone in here?" I could hear the concern in her voice._

_I started sniffling and a sob escaped my mouth as I was trying to hide from her._

"_Hello?" _

"_Ms. Roberts?" I recognized who she was. I opened the stall door and wiped my tears away._

"_Oh honey." Ms. Roberts knelt down and hugged me. We sat like that for a few minutes, out of all the teachers there she was the most understanding, she never once asked me what was wrong, and she just held onto me and let me cry._

"_Sorry for not coming to class Miss…." I sniffled again, at the time I was afraid that I was in trouble._

"_It's okay Bella. What's this about, huh?" She smiled in a gentle way. _

_I tried to get my breathing under control so I could answer her question. "They made fun of me… they said I hadn't got a daddy… that my daddy Charlie didn't love me…" I started crying even more than before_

"_Charlie does love you Bella." Ms. Roberts smoothed my braid against my head and down my back repeatedly to soothe me. _

"_Ms. Roberts… can you call my daddy?" I wiped more tears from my eyes._

"_Of course Bella." She smiled as she took my hand and we walked to the front desk. _

_Then when Charlie came to pick me up my class was at recess so they all saw the cruiser pull up and me getting in it. From the corner of my eye I could see Charlotte and her friends giggling and pointing at me. I brushed away a few fresh tears and we sped off back home._

_When we first got home that day Charlie didn't know what to say, nothing in his parenting books had prepared him for what to expect when your orphan ward is being bullied because you aren't her father. _

"_Sorry for getting upset Daddy…." I remember looking at the floor and kicking my shoe against the hardwood._

"_It's ok Bella…." Charlie knelt down and put his hand on my shoulder._

"_They said my real daddy burned my house down…." I couldn't stop crying, I couldn't decide if I was mad or upset or both. _

"_He didn't baby, he…." Charlie struggled to find the words. Later, after I found out about John being my real father, Charlie said that he almost slipped up and told me the truth about the demon._

"_They were being so mean… They said you didn't love me…." I sniffled again._

"_Course I love you." He hugged me. "Do you want me to arrest them?" then trying to make me feel better. _

_I remember giggling at his small gesture. Now nothing would have pleased me more than to see those girls behind bars, but at the time I didn't really get the concept, still it made me feel better._

"_There's my Bella." Then he started tickling me. _

"_Daddy! Stop!" I yelled out between fits of laughter. _

I look back on that memory with a warm smile on my face as I watched him zone out in front of the television again. I pulled my knees up around my chest and hugged them; I then rested my chin on my knees and leaned over to put my head on Charlie's shoulder. Automatically he put his arm around me and I snuggled into his side just like we did all those years ago except it was old Disney movies instead of the ball game but I didn't really care. I was just glad to be sitting with my Daddy again, just like old times.


	3. Confessions of a YA Monster Hunter

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I'm a little late this week! I'm getting ready to go into my life's busy season so I may not update regularly but I will try not to miss more than one week for an update because I owe it to you guys! I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving for those of us who celebrate it and for those who don't I hope you have a great week! **

**So who's ready to meet a (semi)new character?! Can you guess who it is? **

**Chapter 2: Confessions of a Young Adult Monster Hunter**

**July 23, 2007**

I woke up the next morning on the couch. Sometime between the last quarter and the next tip off, or whatever it was you call it, I must have passed out on the couch. I yawned and stretched then heard something fall softly to the floor. I sat up and looked at the floor; Charlie must have put that blanket around me when he went up to bed. Smiling at the simple gesture I got off the couch and walked into the kitchen to explore options for breakfast.

The freezer was nearly exploding at the seams from all the fish that Charlie had crammed in there. I turned up my nose and frowned as I shut the door and moved on to the fridge. Thankfully there was some milk in there, I took an experimental sniff before I shut the door and then I sat the milk down on the table and resumed my search, hopefully in one of these cupboards there had to be something!

"Ah my old friend!" I sighed as I pulled down my box of cereal. Every town that we had stopped in since I left I would always run to the convenience store and grab a box of this stuff. It would always remind me of Charlie because this was how we had started our days for about five years before I left. I sat the cereal down and let my instincts take over as I immediately put my hand on the correct door for a bowl, next came the utensil drawer. _Let's see…. What else did I do way back when?_ I looked around the kitchen and I spotted the coffee maker on the counter I plugged it in warily and the l.e.d screen glowed. "Just like riding a bike." I smiled as I started making Charlie's coffee then sat down at the kitchen table.

"I hope that's not gone bad." I heard Charlie's voice before I heard him lumbering down the stairs and he appeared in the kitchen. "I got it from the store about a week ago. I know it's your favorite." He smiled sheepishly.

"I can't believe you remembered." I started stirring the contents of my bowl as I watched him pull down a frying pan, turn the stove on and grab two eggs out of the fridge. Once he had them simmering in the pan he opened the freezer and somehow managed to pull out a package of bacon.

"Are you sure that isn't the fish flavored?" I smirked as he put a few strips in the pan along with his eggs.

"Don't knock it till you tried it kid." He grinned, seasoning his breakfast with a dash of salt and pepper.

"I think I'll pass." I shovelled in a few more bites before he joined me at the table. The bacon slid off the pan easily, but the eggs looked more like a gooey mess. "You know, cooking oil makes them stick less."

"It's a non-stick pan." Charlie frowned as he scraped the last of his eggs onto his plate.

I tried to contain my laughter as I watched him get more and more irritated by the pan. The whole idea was hilarious to me; the powerful sheriff of Forks (and ex-hunter) was rendered helpless by a simple frying pan. "Maybe I should cover breakfast for tomorrow. The faster I get back on the horse the easier it will be right?"

He sighed as he gave up on the pan and set it in the sink and poured hot water on it, he joined me at the table before he responded. "Something like that." He grinned over his coffee.

"So what are you gonna do today?"

"I was thinking about heading into the office for a few hours, I've got some paperwork to catch up on. Are you still going down to the Rez today?" He looked over yesterday's paper.

"Yeah, but I don't know how I'm gonna get there." I frowned. "I don't have a car, much less a licence to drive one, legally." I smiled at Charlie's reaction to my last word. He almost chewed me out for having fake ID's but then he just shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"I could drive you, if you wanted, I don't have to be down at the office at any specific time."

"No, I don't want to put you out." I got up and put my bowl and spoon in the sink and returned the milk and cereal to their homes. "I'll just call Billy and see if Rach is up, she could come and get me."

"Bella." Charlie looked up from the paper. "Really, it's no trouble."

"Okay, just let me go up and grab my stuff, I'll be ready in a few."

Once I was upstairs I grabbed my duffle bag and shoved a few necessities in it and then, in a force of habit, my hand rested on my knife. I huffed in amusement, half expecting Sam and Dean to come up the stairs and tell me it was time to go on another adventure. I moved the knife to the night stand as I opened the drawer and pull out my locket. I turned to my mirror that was attached to my door and fastened the chain around my neck and touched the cold metal thoughtfully.

The locket was something that Dad had given me the day that I had woken up after the car accident. Inside it was an old picture of him and mom back when they were dating. I undid the fastener keeping it shut and looked down at them admiringly remembering the day he gave it to me.

"_Hey dad." I smiled at him when Sam, Dean, and I walked in._

"_Hey kiddo." He hastily shoved something in his pocket and smiled at us. It was almost as if he was nervous or something._

"_Dad." Dean grunted before flopping down on the hard motel mattress._

_Dad rolled his eyes at Dean's entrance. "How was school?"_

"_Awful!" Dean and I groaned at the same time making his frown deepen._

"_That's life." He muttered as he picked up the paper from this morning and started reading it again. _

"_Dean. Your day wasn't too painful. You were making out with that girl." Sam commented as he sat down across from Dad, smirking at Dad's suspicious look at Dean._

_Dean sat up and grinned. "_That_ was fun."_

"_You need to focus more on your studies…." Dad got up and whacked Dean on the back of his head._

"_Ow!" He touched the back of his head. "I am. I'm studying biology!"_

"_More like anatomy…." I smirked as I poured myself a cup of stale coffee trying not to wince at the bitter taste. _

"_Hey…. You learn it your way Izzy, I learn it my way." Dean stuck his tongue out at me._

"_Dean, you have to focus in school!" Dad suddenly shouted making us all turn to look at him._

_Dean was unruffled by Dad's comment, like he usually is. "I'm flunking anyway Dad. Quit fussing over it. They don't care anymore."_

"_You have to graduate or you're not getting the Impala." Dad replied, dangling the keys in front of him._

"_Aww…." Dean crossed his arms and pouted like a five year old. He really loved that car and would do practically anything for it._

"_No complaining." Dad snapped back._

_Sam and I sang a chorus of ooh's and got a dirty look from Dean._

"_Boys, why don't you go get dinner?" Dad tossed Dean the keys._

"_Food!" Dean shouted grabbing the money out of Dad's outstretched hands._

_The boys left, leaving me and Dad sitting in an awkward silence._

"_Well they'll be gone for a while…." I hinted as I paced around the room. So many things had changed between us since the first few months of getting back with him. I watched slowly day by day as his obsession with finding Mom's killer slowly drove him insane. I would wake up sometimes in the middle of the night after a nightmare and he would still be up staring at his journal scribbling furiously every now and then rubbing his bleary eyes tiredly putting his pen down to take a swig of whiskey. _

_I tried to ignore it, if it was important, he would have told us, I kept reminding myself. But he got more distant as the days turned into weeks and months, eventually years._

"_Yeah, they will kid." He said absentmindedly as he got out paper plates._

"_Here, let me help." I didn't want to stand there doing nothing._

"_It's fine." He reassured me. "Kid, I know you got a bit pissed that I gave Sam his present this morning and not you." _

"_A little…." I bit down on my lip and started blushing, I was so easy to read, I couldn't hide my annoyance at that. It was childish, I know._

"_I didn't forget." He smiled coming over to me and pulling a small box out of his coat pocket "I just thought it'd be easier with the boys gone._

"_What is it?" My eyebrows were raised in curiosity as I put down the plates fingering the velvet lightly. Only one thing came in a velvet box._

_He rolled his eyes at my curiosity "Open it and find out."_

_I opened the small box and a locket fell out into my hand. I couldn't speak for a while, when I finally found my voice I looked up at him smiling._ "Dad, it's gorgeous."

"_Why don't you open it?" Obviously pleased with my reaction._

_I opened the locket and was met with a picture of a younger version of my parents. "Oh wow... Is that you and Mom?"_

"_Yeah it is." He smiled a little. It was touched by the faintest lines of sadness._

"_I love it…." I touched the picture with my finger, tears prickling in my eyes._

"_I'm happy ya do kiddo. Happy birthday…." He swallowed thickly._

I reached up and threw my arms around him in a tight hug. "I love you Daddy…."

"_Love you too kid." I could faintly make out the face of the father I used to know, the one that I wished I could bring back._

"_Help me put it on?" I handed it back to him and turned around, gathering my hair up in one hand._

"_Okay." He put it on and I turned back around to see the sadness on his face. "I'm sorry this is all of your mother I could give you kiddo."_

"_It's okay..." I sighed; he was always trying to make up for the fact that Mom was gone._

_He smiled again, his temporary depression forgotten about for a minute. "Let's get this table set up before your brothers come back."_

"_Okay." I smiled back at him and we started to set the table. _

_Sam and Dean came in a few minutes later loaded down with white fast food bags._

"_Grubs up!" Dean announced as he put the food on the table._

"_Finally! I'm starving!" I sat down and rummaged through the bags hungrily._

_Dean, Sam, and Dad sat down and we divvied up the food accordingly._

"_Don't wolf it down in one gulp." He chastised me and Dean before taking a bite of his own burger. "You'll choke."_

"_We'll be fine." Dean replied with a mouth full of food._

_Dad narrowed his eyes. "Pig…."_

"_Oink, oink!" Dean pushed his nose up like a pig's snout and started making pig noises making Sam and I laugh out loud till we were holding our sides. _

"_Fine…." Dean's irritated tone was marred by the happy munching noises he was making. _

_After we had finished eating and cleaned up Sam and I had started getting ready for bed but Dean stood up suddenly. "Crap! I forgot something in the car. I'll be right back."_

"_Okay…." I looked to Sam. _

"_We didn't get anything other than the food…." Sam was just as curious as I was apparently._

_We both turned to Dad who said, "Don't look at me…."_

_Dean came back in with a birthday cake, half frosted pink and the other half blue with two candles on each side. He looked like a small child who had made his parents a macaroni bracelet and was so proud of it. _

"_Aww." I grinned and shook my head as he sat it down on the table._

"_Yeah, yeah, don't make a big deal about it." Dean waved off my sentiments. _

"_Thanks Dean!" I hugged him tightly._

_His arms wrapped around me gently and he smiled down at me. "You're welcome kiddo." _

"_Thanks Dean." Sam looked at the cake with a small smile on his face._

_Dean lit the candles with his lighter and he and Dad belted out a really bad version of the happy birthday song and Sam and I blew out the candles after they finished. If you thought Dean couldn't sing, you should've heard Dad…._

"_You guys are the best." I smiled kissing them all on the cheek. _

_Dean ruffled my hair, "Love you kid."_

"_Love you too." _

Then Charlie hollered up the stairs, breaking me out of my memories, to remind me to dress warmly. Another reason to dislike this place…. The warmest day they had seen was about low 70's if even that. I cringed as I put tucked my locket under my shirt and put on a blue flannel shirt over top of my t-shirt and then put on my dark brown leather jacket, a stipulation from Dean. I rolled my eyes as I remember Dean saying that _'no sister of mine is gonna be riding in my car without one.'_ I grabbed an elastic band for my hair and closed my door.

I followed Charlie outside, I noticed that he was wearing a long sleeved shirt and he had grabbed his police coat from the hall closet. He smirked as I hugged myself and rubbed my arms to get warm. He didn't say anything until we got into the car. "You'll get used to it, trust me."

Trust me, you never do….

"Yeah, whatever." I rolled my eyes. I waited until we were in the car to strike up another conversation. "So is there anything case worthy going on in town?" Charlie stared at me occasionally with a confused face as he tried to keep his eyes on the road. "You know, like monsters to hunt, things to kill, people to save." I decided to elaborate my point.

"Bella, you came home to get away from hunting, not to jump right back into it again."

"I know, but I have to keep myself busy." I started drumming my fingers against my knees, remembering how I felt last night after I had unpacked, totally useless and bored.

"You can do other things to keep yourself busy, like hanging out with your old friend Rachel and making some new friends." Charlie suggested. "You could even take some classes at the community college if you want."

"And major in what? Demonology: The study of things that go bump in the night?" I smirked at him cleverly. He didn't respond, he just rolled his eyes and put his attention back on the road.

The scenery around us changed from thick dense forest into a long narrow shoreline in about 30 minutes, give or take a few. I saw the dark grey water churning out in the bay and the lonely rocky islands that stuck out of the water like the fingers of an ancient demon that was reaching for the sunlight. This was probably an accurate description, according to the Quileute's.

The Quileute nation had some interesting theories on life that aren't exactly in your standard American history text book. I remember all the sleepover's I had with Rachel and Rebecca that they would tell me the stories, their cultures old myths about how the world was formed and how they had descended from wolves to fight the cold ones. They were trying to freak me out at the time but after traveling with my Dad and brothers for so long, the stories seemed more accurate and deadly now.

We pulled up at the faded red house a few minutes later. I saw movement at the window and a few seconds later a familiar face peered out the front door. Billy Black had been wheelchair bound ever since the car accident. He had long dark hair and a coppery skin tone, and resting comfortably on his head was his signature black cowboy hat. When I was a kid I asked him why he wore it and he told me, in his serious tone, that he had taken it from a pale face just after he scalped him. He smiled and his eyes sparkled when he heard me gulp.

"Hey Billy!" Charlie waved from the cruiser as I opened my door.

"Thanks Charlie, I'll have Rachel bring me back, okay?" I grabbed my bag out of the back and started towards the house.

"Alrighty, I'll see you sometime tomorrow." I heard him call back before he drove away. Charlie knew that I would probably stay here for the night; he would assume correctly, that is if Billy would let me.

"Bella, it's so good to see you again." Billy took my hand and shook it with both of his, I was amazed at the strength he still had in those old fingers. He let me go and started rolling himself back in the house, I had to help him get over the threshold but after that he started into the small living room.

"You too Billy." I smiled as I followed him inside.

"Why didn't Charlie come in?" Billy had backed himself into the corner beside the couch and put his hand out to the side for me to sit beside him.

"He had to go into work today, something about getting some paper work done?"

"Oh." Billy knitted his fingers together and his arms rested on the wheel chair. "He works too much don't you think?" a ghost of a smile playing on his lips.

"Maybe, but work is his life right?" I replied as I looked around the small room. There were pictures everywhere and I was in about half of them. "Where is everybody?" I remarked as I noted the quiet house.

"Jacob spent the night at a friend's house. Rachel should be waking up soon."

"How's Rebecca?" I asked as I touched a picture of her standing on a beach with a hunky surfer dude, I didn't recognize him; I would have remembered a face like that.

"Rebecca is in Hawaii, she met Solomon about six years ago and they got married." Billy's voice had a sad edge to it.

"Married? At eighteen?" I looked at the picture again. I hoped she was happy; at least it looked like she was. I could never imagine myself getting married, especially not at 18.

"I didn't approve of it at first but I saw how happy he made her. We were all so… upset over Sarah's death…" Billy's face twisted slightly in pain. "I just wanted her to be happy."

"Does she stay in contact?"

"I get the occasional letter, the even rare phone calls." He paused for a moment. "Ah, you don't need to listen to an old man ramble." He smiled. "Go wake Rachel up. She has been on vacation time for too long."

"Yes, sir." I laughed as I walked down the long hallway to the girl's old room. She was passed out on a bed that was about a foot smaller than she was and was snoring lightly. I was poised to attack when her phone alarm went off and nearly scared the crap out of both of us.

"Who are you?! What are you doing in my room?!" She screamed as she smacked me with her pillow, not just once, but repeatedly. That would be a funny way to die: death by bludgeoning via pillow.

"This is a nice way to treat your best friend!" I shouted over her as she whacked me again.

"Bella?!" She still had her pillow raised, ready to attack again. Her warm brown eyes widened and a huge smile spread across her face. "What are you doing here Powne?"

I smiled; it had been so long since anyone called me that. 'Powne' was their made-up nick name for me. They had come up with it when they were learning how to talk. "Can I not stop by and see my best friend? I'm staying with Charlie for a few weeks and heard that you were in town."

"Yeah, schools out for the summer session, I have two weeks, well now one week, until the fall semester starts." Rachel threw her pillow back on the bed and then sat on it. She pulled the elastic band out of her hair that was freshly styled in that 'new bed head look' and desperately tried to put a comb through it and gave up after pulling out two hair knots.

"Do you want to die by over learning?" I joked, she wasn't as psyched about school as Sam was but something in her tensed up face made me not want to push the issue any more.

"So what have you been up to?" She shook her old college shirt and ratty shorts off and hunted through the many piles of clothes to find some clean ones to put on and settled with hot pink Bermuda shorts and a thin long sleeved grey shirt.

"Road tripping with my brothers." I tried to hide my smile. I never got a chance to tell Rachel and Rebecca that I had brothers.

"Brothers?" Her eyes got even wider as she turned to face me. "When did that happen?"

"You remember when Charlie told me that my dad hadn't died in that fire?" She nodded so I continued. "Well when I was thirteen, I found out my dad was alive, and I had two brothers on top of that. So I took off with them." I edited out the monster hunting of course, repressing the urge to spill my guts about everything. She didn't need me to ruin her life.

"Oh, are any of them available?" She plopped back down on the bed on her stomach and put her hands under her chin expectantly with a dumb grin on her face.

"Grow up!" I grinned back at her and shoved her arm out from under her.

"What? I'm being serious! I'm not getting any younger here!"

"No, I'm not hooking you up." I couldn't believe that she was actually serious.

"Aww." She pouted but it was quickly replaced by an easy grin.

"Come on! I wanna go do something!" I got up off the floor and tugged at her arm. "I came here to talk to you, not about my brothers!" My tone was joking but I didn't want her to start asking questions about my brothers. It would be hard to lie to someone that has known me my whole life practically.

"What do you want to do?" Rachel complained as I started dragging her down the hall.

"Billy I'm borrowing Rachel for a few!" I hollered as we passed the front door and ran out of the house.

"Slow down Powne!" She skidded to a stop when we had gotten to the shore line. "Are you going to drag me all the way back to Forks?"

I grinned sheepishly as I let her go. "Sorry. I saw the beach when Charlie brought me back in; it's been so long since I've been here that I wanted to see it."

She rolled her eyes and led the way down to the beach. It was still beautiful, even after all these years. The grey waters lapped at the pebbled shore; there was no sand mind you, just stones made up of bright colors. We made our way to one of the bond fire pits that still held the embers of the last party that was here, either the Quileute or pale faced kids having one last summer hurrah before going back to school if I had to guess.

"So how's college life treating you?" I stretched out and reclined on one of the natural benches.

"It's amazing! You should come with me Bella! There's so much to do!" That started the torrent about college life and how fun it would be for the two of us to be roomies and be in the same classes together, etcetera.

"I don't know Rach. Me and school institutions don't have a good history." I frowned. This was probably one of the reasons that Charlie didn't question me coming here today. I knew that he wanted to show me the perks of living a normal life. He probably hoped that Rachel could sell me on the whole college bit but I couldn't see myself doing that. I closed my eyes and imagined that Sam and Dean were here with me and then smiled when I thought of Dean and Rachel flirting with each other.

"Come on Bella, what do you mean?"

"Well with the way I work, it doesn't leave much time for academics…." I stopped short, great; bring up work to the one person who _doesn't_ think I'm crazy. But then the desire for me to tell her everything overcame me again and I just needed someone to talk to about all this, to show me some new perspective.

"What do you do for work?"

I groaned internally, "You really don't wanna know." I laughed weakly. I might as well get it over with now, she had grown up with these stories all her life so it shouldn't be much of a shock to her to find out they are real. Should they?

"It can't be that bad." She nudged my foot playfully.

I opened my eyes slightly and looked at her. "How about fighting for your life on a daily basis?" I closed my eyes again; I didn't want to see her reaction.

"That bad huh?" Her tone surprised me, and then I realized that she must think I'm kidding.

"Rachel…." I sat up and looked her straight in the face. "I hunt demons for a living."

She stared back at me with one of those 'okay you have finally cracked' faces. "Demons? Ok now I know you've hung around my dad for too long." She rolled her eyes and laughed at me. Like most of the kids on the Res, she just took the old legends at face value not seeing the truth that was staring them in the face. The elders, like Billy, still took the stories to heart and believed every single one.

"It's true. Do I look like I'm joking?" Her laughter died down and she stared at me.

"Okay, you're slightly delusional but fine, I'll bite, what kinds of 'demons' do you hunt?" She was still under the impression that I was kidding but at least she wasn't signing me up for a strait jacket yet.

"My dad raised my brothers and later on, me, to hunt different things, but mainly to kill the demon that murdered our mother." I explained quietly.

She sat in silence for a few minutes. "Okay, I'm really trying to be supportive and look at this objectively… but it's a lot to take in."

"Believe me, I know." I leaned back on the bench and closed my eyes again.

"So all of Dad's stories are true, you know, the werewolves and monsters and stuff?" Rachel's voice was thoughtful. I was right in thinking that she could handle it. Although, she could be freaking out internally, I couldn't tell anymore.

"Yeah, it's true." I actually pulled most of my research for the boys from the many stories I heard while sitting around the camp fires at the Black household. The girls and I would end up so wrapped up in Billy's stories about the cold ones and the tribe's men who could turn into wolves and fight them that we didn't hear Jacob come up behind us and nearly give us a heart attack. His mother would scold him and Billy would have the biggest smile on his face. I missed those days.

"Did you get to do it? Kill it I mean?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Yeah, we did." I looked up at the sky sadly; remembering that day like it was just yesterday. "My brother, Dean, put a bullet in him." I sighed as I imagined one of the clouds turning into the impala and Sam and Dean were getting out and telling me it was time to hit the road again. I wondered how long I should wait to call them again. It had only been a day but it felt like an entire lifetime ago. Thinking about the demon made me remember all the nightmares that followed, I repressed a shudder.

"Wow." It was the only thing that Rachel could come up with I guess.

"Yeah. But there are still other demons to kill, and other evil crap out there." I could only imagine what kinds of enemies that we had stirred up by killing the demon. As well as the 200+ demons that escaped.

"So are you gonna meet up with them soon?" She asked hopefully.

"No. I kinda took some time off. We haven't really been right since our Dad died…." I frowned, rekindling memories of Dad and I frowned slightly.

"How did he die?" She asked with concern for me.

"He sold his soul to the demon that killed our Mom because my oldest brother, Dean, was dying." I really didn't want to drag all this back out, but Rachel deserved to know. "A semi-truck driven by a demon hit us. Dean had been hurt already. One minute Dean was in a coma, then he woke up, and we found Dad dead…."

"Bella, I'm –" I stopped her from saying the words that I had heard a thousand times before.

"I know, everybody is." I frowned "The orphaned Winchesters." I snorted. "And that isn't even the tip of the iceberg of what's happened." I explained everything that had happened since I had crawled into the back of that impala to now. By the end of it I was horse from talking so much. I thought I had stunned Rachel into silence again but she soon recovered and her face was sympathetic.

"Wow… Bella, I don't know what to say…." She finally broke the silence.

"If anything don't say 'I'm sorry'." I half smiled.

She smiled a little anyway despite my joke.

"I'm just waiting for that call…." I closed my eyes again and thought about Dean.

"What call?"

"My brother Sam, to tell me that Dean's… gone…." Out of habit my hand went into the pocket of my jeans and I held on to my phone tightly.

"I guess it's a part of the job right?" Rachel asked rhetorically.

"Unfortunately…." It's true, we had seen a few good hunters, and heard about a bunch more, that go down on the job, it happened every day. But never this close to home.

"I mean hunting down demons isn't just a walk in the park." I looked at Rachel again; she had taken a stick and was drawing mindlessly into the dirt.

"It has its perks. You get to see the country." I smiled. "I've seen the world's biggest ball of twine, three times."

"Yeah, that's good, but you must be put in life or death situations all the time."

"It's more Dean. He's always getting himself in trouble."

"Ooh a rebel bad boy type huh?" she smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes and snorted. "You could say that." Then my voice lost all its teasing edge. "He sold his soul about 2 months ago."

"What?" I guess I left out that part when I was telling her my story. "Seriously what is the deal with the men in your family and making deals with demons?"

"I know… Dean's alive, for now anyway…." I looked away out towards the Island of St. James.

"I wish I could help." Rachel put her hand on my shoulder in a supporting way.

"Thanks Rachel." I gave her a lopsided smile.

"Hey! Maybe Dad will have something in his books, he is the tribe elder and all." She was trying to be supportive, I'll give her that but she just didn't understand.

"We can't mess with the deal or try get out of it… it's not a good idea."

"What's the harm in looking?"

"Rach, I really can't. The crossroads demon my brother sold his soul to told him if he or us tried to get him out if the deal, my brother and I would drop dead again."

"Again?!" I must have left that part out too.

"Like you said, life or death situations." I got up and started walking back to the road.

"Wait!" She called after me. "Tell me Bella, what happened?" She caught up to me and I sighed.

"I'm kinda psychic." It was the best place to start off with.

"Psychic? Like, mind reading and visions?"

"Well yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

"I have visions of people's pasts. I could see what had happened to them. Sam, my twin, could see people dying, but both our visions were connected with the demon and they stopped when he died. We can communicate through thought, and there were other kids like us. The demon rounded us up."

"Wow... and I thought my life was complicated." She rolled her eyes.

"It got a whole lot worse." I started walking back to the house and she fell in step beside me.

"How could it get worse?" I couldn't tell if she meant that rhetorically.

"He turned us against each other. Fight to the death and last one standing wins. Dean got there with our Dad's friend Bobby just in time to see one of the kids stab Sammy. Then he turned on me."

"A little dramatic much?" She shoved her hands in her pockets.

"I know… Seems like something out of a horror movie." I tried to shake the images of Sam dying out of my head. "Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a cabin somewhere, and finding out Dean made a deal."

"That's horrible."

"When Sam and Dean brought me here, Dean started talking about his funeral... I nearly punched him." I still wanted to, not that she needed to know that.

"I wouldn't blame you." She looked like she spoke from personal experience.

"They still treat me like I'm 13 years old." I crossed my arms and kicked up some dirt with my shoes.

"I know how that feels. Dad does that a lot. That's why I had to get out of here, why Becca left and moved so far away, why Jacob is miserable." She sighed sadly.

"One thing I've learned is that family shouldn't split up. We learned that the hard way."

Rachel smiled sadly. "So why are you still here?"

"I needed to get out for a while… after what happened with Dad, and Dean's deal…."

"All the more reason to fight to keep him alive." She pointed out.

"I can't Rach, he wouldn't want me to."

Rachel looked all around us and then whispered, "I don't see him around…."

She left me to ponder over that while we walked in silence till we got to the Black house. She was right, Dean wasn't here to prevent me from trying to find out some way around it, but it was still too risky I couldn't take a chance on it.

"Powne, you seriously need to get your own wheels." Rachel commented on the way back to Forks. Me talking about work and demon deals and such had thrown off the girly slumber party idea, but we made it work, she mostly talked about her school and the few boys she had met, it was all very interesting to hear how normal her life was, we stayed away from taboo subjects such as my family and hers but we still had a good time staying up till half past three watching our favorite movies until we were both passed out on her bed.

"I know, but where am I gonna get the cash to pay for one?"

"There's such a thing as a job." She smirked at me. "Hunters don't make good pay, so I've heard."

"Ha, ha, very funny." I smiled back then sighed. "I don't know."

"Well I'll save a cot for you at the 'jail'." She hadn't forgotten about what I said last night about schools being like a prison. She was just teasing me but I could hear the faint tones of sadness there. I'm sorry that she took it so personally, it was just something that she loved doing, I loved hunting monsters, and she loved reading.

We got back to Forks in no time; she drove just a little faster than Charlie.

"Are you sure you can't stay for supper Rachel?" Charlie offered one last time as she started heading to the front door.

"No thanks Charlie, I've gotta get back and cook for Dad and Jacob." She smiled as she hugged Charlie. "I'll see you at Christmas!"

"You're not coming back?" I asked as she hugged me.

"No, I have to go tomorrow and set up my new room, I'm being moved into the junior dorms. But I'll be here for Christmas I promise." She pulled away from me and then said, "Say 'hi' to your brother's for me!" and then she winked.

_Gee thanks Rach…._ I sighed as Charlie turned and glared at me. The fewer people who knew about Sam and Dean the better but I couldn't keep that from my best friend.

As soon as the door clicked shut behind her I headed straight for the kitchen.

"Bella, what did you tell her?" I heard his accusation from down the hall following me.

"Charlie, I couldn't hide this from her. She's my best friend."

"You know how dangerous it is to tell people about us, it puts them in a vulnerable position."

"I know that Charlie." I tried to focus on making something edible out of the fish that I had pulled out of the freezer. "I just needed someone to talk to that would actually listen without passing judgement on me!"

"Bella…."

"I don't want to talk about it anymore Charlie! What's done is done; if anything happens to her I'll deal with it, just like I have done with everything else!"

The rest of the night passed in silence.

**So… who would've thought it was Rachel…? We'll just leave that there for you to ponder over…**

**HAPPY TURKEY DAY!**


	4. Nice Ride

**A/N: Okay, this one was a fun one to write, hope you guys like it! Getting along further on the rewrite so hopefully I'll have the whole thing done sooner than I thought! **

**Disclaimer: The worlds of Supernatural and Twilight belong to their respective owners. I claim nothing but the adapted plot lines! **

**Chapter 3: Nice Ride**

**July 24, 2007**

The night passed by much too quickly and I found myself waking up early out of habit. _At least that hasn't changed._

I changed into my sweats and put on my beat-up running shoes and snuck out of the house. This was something Sam and I did regularly, we would leave Dean asleep in the motel room and we would run around the parking lot two or three times. It ended up being a competition to see who could make it back to the room and I would always finish first.

The neighborhood that Charlie lived in was easy to get lost in but that meant that I could find different paths back to the house, some through the woods. If I was being completely honest, this wasn't just a casual run around the block. I had decided last night that I would do a quick sweep and get a feel for the neighborhood. If I had learned anything it was that monsters loved nothing more than to hide in the most unlikely places.

My sweep came up negative, but I decided to keep an eye on the Smith's two blocks down, their yard was _too_ perfect….

"Enjoy your run." Charlie muttered as I walked into the kitchen.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. "Yeah, it really cleared my head." Then I remembered I was supposed to be mad at him. I sat down at the table and sipped my water quietly.

"Bella I'm sorry –" he started to say.

"Don't worry about it Charlie." I pushed in my chair and went to throw my water bottle in the recycling. "I'm over it."

"Sure you are." He frowned and examined me. "So what are you gonna do today?"

"I don't know, I guess I'll just go out and explore a bit. See what all has changed and what hasn't." I really hadn't decided what I wanted to do. It would be nice to find a case that I could work. That would be great, but I didn't know if I could get away with walking everywhere, and in a small town like this stealing a car without someone finding out is next to impossible.

Charlie huffed and slid his chair away from the table. "You'll need a car to do that." It was like he could read my mind….

"I know…." I frowned. "I don't have enough money to buy one." I muttered to myself. "And you wouldn't approve of me stealing one…."

"I heard that…." He grumbled.

"Sorry." I smiled sheepishly.

"Well, if that's your terms then I guess I'll have to let you borrow mine."

"The cruiser? Wouldn't that be considered using government property for personal gain?"

"No, not the company car, come on…." He led me out back to the garage that had barely been used. I didn't even know there was anything useful out there. He took a key out of his pocket and struggled to pull the door up. "The hinges are rusted…"

"Here, let me help." I walked over to the opposite side of the door and helped him push it up. Inside the small garage was an even smaller car, pretty basic, a tan sedan with plain tan interior. That was about all I could tell you about it. Dean was the car guy in my family, he would have died to sit in that car but it was fine for me. "This is yours?"

"Yeah, I bought it when Renee and I first got married." He smiled. "Just a little something to drive around town, we didn't buy it new, it was about six years old when we got it. But it's barely been used since I have the cruiser now."

"It's great Charlie." I walked over to the driver's side and the door was unlocked. "I guess you don't have to worry about anyone stealing it." I smiled.

"Well it's an older car and I kinda _am_ the sheriff around here." He smiled. "The key is in the ignition. I do have one condition tough…."

I smirked and then slammed the door. "You want me to get a license right?"

"I can't have you breaking the law when I'm the law around here. It sets a bad precedent for the rest of them."

"I know." I rolled my eyes. "I'll go take it if it makes you feel better." I walked out of the garage and offered him my hand. "Shake on it?" He laughed and took my hand and shook it roughly. "Don't pull my arm out of its socket. That's my shooting hand…" I smiled to take the sting out of my complaint.

"Sure, sure." He rolled his eyes and shut the garage door again, with my help. Then he started walking towards the cruiser. "Are you coming?"

"Why?" I followed him curiously. "Where are we going?"

"Down to the station, that's where the DMV office is." He opened the passenger door for me and I climbed in.

I waited till he got in the driver's side before I asked, "Is Forks so small that they couldn't have two separate buildings for that?"

"It's not because were small, it's more efficient that way." He grumbled as he put the car in gear and drove away from the house.

On the way to the station I noticed a few things had changed, the buildings were showing a little more wear, but the schools were still made up of small buildings grouped closer together with a chain-link fence guarding the perimeter. It took some time to get adjusted to the lay out of the city but I had a feeling that after a few days driving around I would know the city like the back of my hand. When we got to the station everyone greeted Charlie and asked who I was. Basically it was the same conversation held multiple times with multiple people. This is how it went down.

Random person: Hey Charlie! (Insert short anecdote here)

Charlie: I've been good (Insert name here).

Random person: Who is this? (They look at me with curiosity ranging from kinky new girlfriend who's looking for a sugar daddy to some homeless person who followed him in the building)

Charlie: This is my daughter Bella. She's come to stay with me for a while.

Me: Hello (Insert name here) It's nice to meet you to.

And that was about it.

But in all honesty, I met some really nice people here. There was Sherry who ran the front desk at the office, Officer Rickman who was Charlie's deputy, and Officer Sanchez who was Rickman's partner.

When Charlie showed me his office I was taken aback. When I was a kid I had only come into this room once or twice in the 13 years I lived with Charlie, I would always stay up front with the secretary. Now I knew why….

"This place is a mess Charlie!" I tried to contain myself. Papers were scattered everywhere, there was some unidentifiable odor coming from somewhere in the room, and it was so dark in here that I wondered how he got any work got done.

"I know I need to do some work to the office, I've gotten a bit lax." He smiled sheepishly as he made his way to his desk.

"A bit…." I stared at the stacks of papers and picked up the top page. "This is dated from 2000…."

"And I need someone to do some filing…." He grumbled as he flipped his computer on.

An idea hit me then, this would be the perfect way to look for new cases, and Charlie wouldn't notice a few pages missing here and there. "Why don't I file this stuff for you Charlie?"

Charlie scrutinized me and I tried to look as innocent as I possibly could to relieve myself of his suspicion. "That would be nice of ya kid. Thanks."

So after a quick trip downstairs and one temporary license in hand, I came back upstairs and got to work. Most of the paperwork was junk mail that Charlie never threw out, but there were a few interesting things to be found in there.

I made piles of paper in the floor: Junk mail to shred, invoices to be filled properly, important documents for him to go through at home, and interesting case files to be explored later. In the end, the junk pile won out as the largest stack.

"What's that pile?" He spotted the stack of case files that I was trying to hide.

"That? Oh it's just some more stuff for you to go through, I don't know how they ended up there…." I was going to have to be crafty to sneak them out of here.

There was a knock at Charlie's office door and a petite woman poked her head in and looked right at me. "Miss Swan? It's time for your road test." Her voice was high and squeaky like she'd sucked all the helium out of a balloon before she had come in here.

"Road test?" I bit my lip hesitantly.

"Did you think it was gonna be just a written test and they would let you leave here with your license?

"Yes, right this way please." The squeaky voiced woman piped up.

I let her drag me out of the office and out into the parking lot. Since I didn't bring my own car they provided me with one, it was an old Buick that looked like it would have come over on the Mayflower. It was crusty, rusty and had some unknown odor originating from the trunk.

"Are you sure this is a DMV car and not a murder scene?" I laughed lightly as we got in the car. Apparently miss squeaky voice didn't like my joke. She kept her eyes on the clipboard that she was scribbling on.

"Pull out of the parking lot safely please, and then we will begin."

_Okay Bella, you can do this, Dean taught you how to drive, you can do this…._ I touched the ancient radio dials and she glared at me over the clipboard. Well this wasn't gonna end well….

I made it out of the parking lot without any major difficulties and was on the road before no time. Thankfully it was light traffic out; I hated driving in short bursts and then sudden stops. My foot was itching to push this car as fast as it was able but I'm sure squeaky over there would have blown a gasket if I did. It was so hard following the rules of the road.

I had gone from being a cop's kid for 13 years to living by my own code and throwing the rulebook out the window as we spun tires down the highway. It took some time but I finally stopped nagging Dean about the speed limit and just let him do what he wanted. He was so stubborn….

"Stop!" Her shrill voice broke through my thoughts as I almost wrecked the car by missing a stoplight.

I stomped on the breaks throwing us both forwards as the car came to a screeching halt. "Sorry…." I looked over and smiled, her glasses were askew and her clipboard was now in the floor. "I'm _really_ sorry…."

"It's okay…." She fixed her glasses and picked the clipboard up again.

After that I decided to pay more attention to the road and less to day dreaming. We made it back to the station in once piece and with a little help from Charlie I passed the test. Thankfully, she had the biggest crush on Charlie….

"So how does it feel to have a legally acquired license?" He asked on the way home that night.

"About the same as getting a fake one, but you're right, If I intend to live a normal life then I have to worry about things like this." I pointed to the temporary license that was stuffed down in its proper place in my scruffy wallet.

"That's good to hear." Charlie smiled as he pulled into the diner. "Sorry, I wanna treat you to dinner but I don't feel like cooking."

"It's okay." I returned his smile and we went inside.

So the next few days were spent with my newly acquired car and getting it ready to be road tested. Charlie came out and helped me when he could spare a moment but those were few and far between. This was a good thing and a bad thing, it was good because I didn't mind being alone but it gave me way too much time to think.

My mind drifted, as it usually did, to the boys. After the first few dozens of emails a day I would send to Sam he decided to check in with me on a regular basis. He kept reminding me that they were working and it was hard to stop long enough to catch a breath much less to read a novel's worth of emails. It was so hard, not having that physical contact with them. I was left feeling slightly hollow, like I had left a piece of myself in that Impala. My head was quiet; it was odd for me to have my head to myself after sharing it with Sam for so long. It was nice to have my private thoughts private again.

When the rare occasions arose that they would call me, or answer my own calls, Dean barely spoke to me anymore, or he wasn't there. Sam was getting worried about him, he would say things like _'Dean doesn't care that he's dying in a few months.'_ In a way I could understand him, it's frustrating when Dean goes out and does stupid things, knowing how long he's got. But I also understand why he's doing it. But if I had only a few months to live, I would want to do everything on my 'bucket list' as it were. So I guess 'I'm still of two minds' about it.

Then I would let my thoughts drift to Jo and Ellen. They had been good friends to me that night I first ran away from Bobby's house to join the boys on a hunt. Ellen seems like a good person to me, I hope she'll let Jo stretch her wings a bit. There is such a thing as too controlling. I wondered if Ellen ever let Jo go out on a hunt, or if she had gone out with her daughter. They would make a great team I think. I wonder if Mom and I would have made a great team. It was probably stupid to think about stuff like that. If Mom was alive, we may not have even turned out as hunters, there was just no way of knowing.

A lot of things probably wouldn't have happened if Mom was alive. I wouldn't be stuck here in exile and be away from my brothers, then again, we could have grown up normally and be separated at this point, living separate lives with separate families and maybe getting together once a month. The apple pie life, as Dean called it once.

Now my thoughts go back to Dean….

I looked over at the small wall clock and it said it was a quarter past 2 am. "Wow, time flies when you worry." I said to myself as I pushed myself out from under the car and headed back to the house for the night. I snuck in the kitchen door as quietly as possible and cursed every creaking board that sounded amplified in the darkness. Finally I reached my bedroom and grabbed my old pj's and crept to the bathroom to wash up.


	5. To the West

**A/N: Sorry I'm late on this one guys! My computer is having issues right now and I can't write as much as I want to so please bear with me! **

**Disclaimer: The worlds of Supernatural and Twilight belong to their respective owners. I claim nothing but the adapted plot lines! **

**Chapter 4: To the West**

**July 25, 2007**

Mercifully, Charlie let me sleep in that morning; he had snuck out of the house and left me a note on the telephone message pad.

_Gone fishing with Billy this morning didn't see the need to wake you. I have no cell reception out on the lake so I'll call you when we get done. If you need anything here's Mrs. Revel's number, she's the next door neighbor. _

Well I guess I got the house to myself then today…. I sighed as I went back upstairs and pulled out the stash from Charlie's office. Sifting through the crap cases took about three hours, one thing about the cops around here, they were extremely through and detailed. I hadn't realized that I had fallen asleep until the sound of Charlie coming in woke me up, looking down I realized that I was still in my pj's so I quickly got dressed and went back downstairs.

"Hey, how was fishing?" I helped him out of his coat and hung it up in the coat closet.

"They were biting." He grinned.

I looked over behind him and saw a cooler that was sitting by the door. "Yay, more fish to cram into the freezer. I don't think the kitchen fridge can handle much more fish abuse."

Charlie chuckled and picked up the cooler. "No silly, these are going to the big freezer outside."

"We have an outside cooler? When did we get one of those?"

"About a year or two after you left. When a man lives alone and fishing is his only non-work related hobby fish tend to pile up." He walked out the kitchen door and I got down a pan and turned the stove on. My stomach was complaining that I hadn't fed it in a while so I decided to make some food for me and Charlie.

By the time he had unloaded the cooler, I had just taken a grilled cheese sandwich off the pan and put it on his plate.

"So, have you made any new friends since I left?" I tried my hand at making small talk while I was waiting on the other sandwich to get done.

"No, but a family moved in about a year ago, the Cullen's." He sat down and started eating.

"Really? I only thought people moved _away_ from Forks not to it." I joked with a small smile, hoping he wouldn't take offense.

"Hey, no teasing." He smirked back. "Yeah. The dad is a doctor, and they adopted five teenagers."

"Five teenagers…." I repeated in a shocked voice. "Good luck to them." Charlie laughed at me. "But in all seriousness five? They must be total hellions…."

What happened next wasn't what I expected. He went on this t-total rant about how they were all good kids and he had never had trouble out of any of them, and the whole family stuck together like a family should, with camping trips every other weekend and they all kept their noses clean. He spoke for about ten minutes. It was the longest I've ever heard him talk, and angrier than he'd ever been. I tried not to laugh when he was done. It was just so out of character for him.

"So you think highly of them?" I asked sarcastically, adding a grin. If he didn't I was sure missing something.

"I'm serious, those kids have never given me any trouble, and they don't air their dirty laundry like all the rest of these kids these days."

I smiled as I put my sandwich on a plate and joined him at the table. "Good to know. So what about anything hunt worthy?" I hoped that he wouldn't be mad at me for broaching the subject again.

"I haven't heard anything." He was a little miffed, but he continued looking at his paper. I would have to make sure I snagged it before he tossed it.

I sighed and rolled my eyes as I swallowed another bite of my sandwich. "Well Forks _is_ the boring capitol of the US…." The cases that I had kept for further examination didn't give me much to go on.

Charlie peered over his paper at me. "You can settle down Bells. Hunting isn't everything." I tried not to roll my eyes again. Hunting is the thing I was breed for. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. "You should think about going back to school. You never finished, you could go off to Seattle."

"What college would take a drop out? I've already had this conversation with Rachel and I don't need it from you."

"Anything would be better than sitting here all day. I think it could help you."

I sighed, I know he meant well but why wouldn't anyone trust me to make my own decisions? "I don't know Charlie, you know me, I don't do well in public settings, besides who knows what kind of crap I could get into in Seattle…." Not only was I a hunter, I was an accident prone danger magnet. Ask Sam or Dean and they'll tell you they've had to save my bacon at least once a week if not more.

"You don't even have to go to Seattle." He reminded me as he got up and cleaned his plate off. "There's a high school five minutes away." He muttered.

The look of horror was plain on my face. "Thanks but I'll pass, how depressing would it be to see a 24 year old middle school dropout in with a bunch of teenagers?" I shuddered at the thought.

"You still have that changing appearance power thing, right? At least give it a try. I think it could really help ya."

What Charlie is referring to is my secondary 'super power' that I found out I had. Funny story about that, Sam and Dean thought I was some crazy person that had abducted their sister and tried to pawn themselves of as her. Sam was convinced when I spoke to him using our mind link. The only way to convince Dean was to reveal his dirty habit of having _active_ dreams. Ever since then I have had the ability to change my appearance at any given time, kind of like Mystique from X-men minus the blue scales and red hair. It really helped to get me out of a jam. If I didn't fit the profile of the girl who was an accomplice to her big brother's murder spree in St. Louis, then I could walk around as Jane Smith. I could reinvent my whole identity at the speed of thought. Plus, if I go under cover, I could check out this new family, the Cullen's. Despite Charlie's good word about them, there was no way that many teens could live in one place at a time without causing trouble.

"Maybe Sam was right; a change of scenery would do me some good. Besides, I kinda hate that I missed out on those 'normal high school memories.' Sam and me had talked after Dean put his foot down about me coming here he told me that was one of his biggest regrets. Personally, I would have loved to have seen him in a powder blue tux arm in arm with some Malibu Barbie posing in that awkward prom photo. I would have made zerox copies of it and posted it everywhere. But he was right, all the movies about high school make us feel like that should be our experience except for the musical part.

"See?" Charlie broke through my resolve. "Uncle Charlie's always right!" He came back to the table and grinned teasingly at me.

"Yeah, yeah don't let your feathers get to out of sorts peacock…." I rolled my eyes as I washed and put my plate in the dish drainer beside his.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Oh before I forget, Billy and Jacob are coming over tonight, they would have come with me when I got back, but I wanted you to know first."

I nodded and walked into the kitchen to start fixing dinner for four now. I decided on spaghetti, like grilled cheese sandwiches, kind of hard to mess up. I was waiting on the pasta noodles to cook when there was a ring at the doorbell.

"I'll get it Bells!" I heard Charlie slam his recliner shut and walk to the door. "Billy, Jacob, nice to see you again."

"Hey Charlie." I heard a younger voice call. That must be Jacob. Then I heard the familiar squeak of wet wheels coming across the hardwood. I walked down the hall to see Billy shaking Charlie's hand.

"Charlie." His voice rumbled. I caught the look in his dark eyes as he looked at me cautiously.

"What's with the look Billy?" I grinned trying to play off the growing suspicion that Rachel had loose lips.

Billy smiled back apologetically. "Sorry, I was thinking about something else."

"Where's Rachel?" Charlie peered around the Black's trying to see if she was hiding behind them.

"She went back to school a day early, something about wanting to get her schedule…."

"Shoot… I wanted to see her." Yeah, so that I could _shoot _her… she probably told Billy everything.

Jacob came around his father and punched my shoulder. "And what am I?" he grinned easily.

I laughed "Sorry Jake." I said his name unsteadily, remembering Jake Talley. My gut clenched as I put my hand to my chest.

"How have you been Powne?" Jacob continued as if he hadn't seen my actions.

I shrugged him off as well as my dark feelings. "Not too bad."

"Well come on in guys, the game's on." Charlie motioned for them to follow him into the living room. I rolled my eyes as Billy and Jacob followed him and walked back into the kitchen. A few minutes later I was draining the noodles when I heard the squeaking again. That man has perfect timing, if he had been just a little later I could have stuffed his mouth full of spaghetti….

"Bella, can I talk to you?" I heard his low voice.

I didn't take my eyes off my work; it was easier to lie if he couldn't scrutinize me with those eyes of his. "Sure, what is it?"

"It's about something Rachel said to me before she left..." His voice held no signs of conviction or anger that I was afraid of, just concern for someone who is as close to a daughter as he had at that moment.

"Whatever she says I'll deny it." I joked but was actually kind of fearful of how much she told him. Billy chuckled in response. "What did she say?"

"About your brother…." Billy started. Then I realized that she told him everything.

"I should have never told her about him…."

"Your brother sold his soul… does he realize how stupid that was?" Billy's voice was still impassive but there was a hint of irritation in his voice. So she must not have explained every detail to him.

"Whole heartedly, but he was doing it with the best of intentions, keeping us safe."

"What does that mean?"

"He did it to save me and my other brother. Someone killed us, and Dean brought us back." I put the wooden spoon down and held onto the counter for support, trying to pull away from the dark memories that were threatening to overtake me.

"You came back from the Valley of the Ghosts?" I heard the shock in his voice. The Quileute's took their legends seriously; the Valley of the Ghosts was the most important of them all. If you kept going west into the sunset you would eventually come to the Valley of the Ghosts, though we were on the west coast so it was hard to go much further west than this. It was another one of those Quileute myths that I wondered if it was true.

I finally turned to face him, the shock was clear on his face; he was sitting in his wheelchair with his hands folded in his lap.

"Yeah we did… and there's no way to get out of it, part of the contract states that if we try to mess with the deal in any way, Sam and I both die again."

His eyebrows furrowed. "I'm so sorry Bella…."

"It's fine." I tried not to let the sadness disrupt my reply. "Does Jake know about any of this?"

"No he doesn't."

"Good, I don't want him too, it's bad enough that I told Rachel, but Jake is too young to have all this crap in his life." If I could help it, he would never know anything about this. He still thought his dad was crazy for believing in the old legends.

"You're too young to have things like that happen to you Bella." Billy wheeled over to me and took my hand in his.

"That's just the way life is…."

"Look, I know you and your brother can't do anything to get your elder brother out of his deal, but I'll keep an eye out."

"The demon was resolute on that point but I know I can't stop you." I crossed my arms and gave in to his help.

"There's always a loophole Bella." His voice was so hopeful.

"Sometimes it just ends in a short drop and a sudden stop."

"We can work it all out, Dean doesn't have to die."

"I don't want him to." My voice broke a little.

"I know you don't, he's your brother."

"He's sacrificed so much for us, for the world. He doesn't deserve to die this way." I tried wiping the tears away that were threatening to escape.

"He doesn't deserve it. Your family has been through so much."

"She spared you no details did she?" I grimaced.

"No she didn't."

"Well, just keep it to yourself."

"I will, don't worry." He gave me a reassuring smile.

"Come on you guys! You're missing the best part!" We heard Jake calling from the living room.

"Yeah, where's the food?!" Charlie yelled as well.

I rolled my eyes. "It's coming! Geez…."

Billy turned and looked in the living room. "Jacob, show her some respect. Always show the person feeding you respect; you have no way of knowing if they put a curse on your food…." He turned back to smile at me.

"Old wives tale Dad…." Jake called back.

"Let's keep it that way." I handed Billy a plate and carried two of my own.


	6. Education, Thy Name is Mud

**A/N: Hi guys! This week is Christmas for those of us who celebrate it! If you don't, then I hope you have a fantastic week!**

**Sorry about missing last week guys I'm so sorry! I'm gonna upload two chapters today so that I can get caught back up! And you can get a bonus for Christmas!**

**Disclaimer: The worlds of Supernatural and Twilight belong to their respective owners. I claim nothing but the adapted plot lines! **

**Chapter 5: Education, Thy Name is Mud**

**September 18th, 2007**

The next few weeks kind of passed in a blur. I worked on the car and got it road ready and looked over the stolen, excuse me, borrowed police files and somewhere between that time Charlie surprised me with the news. I was going to be a part of the junior class of Forks High school.

He left me with a light hearted, "Classes start on Monday." As I sank back down into the bed.

I got up, bright and early Monday morning and sighed as I grabbed my book bag, day one of high school hell. I stared at myself in the mirror. I had to change my appearance to look more like Charlie's daughter for one thing and also so I could fit in with the high school masses.

"Ok, you can do this Bella." I sighed as I closed my eyes and visualized what I wanted to look like. When I opened my eyes again I was a young 17 year old girl with long brown hair and looked less bulky from all the hunter training. I was trying to look less intimidating, more innocent. A nagging voice in the back of my head said it would never work. So I decided to test it out.

I couldn't hear anything coming from Charlie's room; surely he wasn't up this early. I went downstairs to see him walking out the door. I rushed to grab my rain coat and followed him.

I got to my car at the same time he opened his cruiser door. "Where are you going so early Charlie?"

He turned and said, "Work." He grinned before he really took in my appearance. "Bella?"

I grinned, glad that I still got it. "Yup it's me. Have a good day at work."

…

Why did I ever agree to this? Went my desperate pleas to myself as I sat in the second period class of whatever boring subject this was. Where was Sam the brainiac when you need him?

I had met a bunch of kids here, some that were helpful, and some that I wanted to punch in the face. I hadn't seen these mysterious Cullen's that Charlie had mentioned a while back, I was starting to think that they didn't exist.

Eric, a pasty kid with greasy black hair and glasses offered to walk me to lunch. He was a sweet kid, but he was barking up the wrong tree, way off my type. I wasn't even sure I had a type. Dean would scare off any potential boyfriend just by walking in the door and saying, Hey, I'm her big brother. If you so much as look at her wrong I'll punch you in the face… with a chair… repeatedly.

Of course there was never any need for his threats. Three men in my live was enough for me, if anything I needed more estrogen….

We walked into the now crowded lunch room, thanks to my new 'favorite' teacher of algebra (As if I needed another excuse to hate math). I went through the line with a new 'friend' of mine Jessica Stanley and some of her friends. I was kinda sympathetic towards her because her name reminded me of Sam's first love, then she started talking….

I decided that now would be the best time to find out more about the Cullen's. "Have you guys met the Cullen's?" I asked as we picked up trays at the beginning of the line. Eric looked a little lost since he wasn't hanging around with the new girl anymore. He would get over it, he struck me as resilient.

"Everyone knows the Cullen's!" She replied back in her oh so charming snobbish voice. "They're really weird though. They don't talk with anyone…"

"They keep to themselves." Her friend… what's her name, added. She seemed really nice, unsure of herself, but nice.

Then I heard them both gasp as they turned to the doors. "What's wrong?" I asked but then I turned as well. They mysterious Cullen's now had faces.

"Are they –?"

"Yeah," Jessica's voice sounded distant, like she was thinking about something else. "that's the Cullen's." She sighed.

The other girl, Angela I remembered, gave me a little more detail. "The big dark haired one is Emmett Cullen, and the blonde with him is Rosalie Hale. Then there's Jasper Hale, Rosalie's twin, and Alice Cullen, Emmett's sister."

"And who's he?" I asked about the last one that came drifting into the door last.

"Of course you would be into him." Jessica rolled her eyes as she returned to her tray and continued down the line. "That's Edward Cullen. Totally gorgeous obviously… But I wouldn't waste your time; he's not into any girls around here particularly." I sensed a girl once scorn by the one in question.

I smiled a little. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm from out of town then." I turned to look at which direction they went into. They were all sitting alone, the food in front of them uneaten. That was a little weird but they could just not be hungry. I had my own try of food that I didn't feel like eating. If hunting had taught me anything it was to be more suspicious of people than others, I wasn't an idiot.

At that moment the last one to come in, Edward, turned to look at me a small smile on his face. I looked away, curiously heat went to my cheeks and I realized that I was blushing. What the heck? "They're… nice looking." There really wasn't a way to salvage that line was there?

"I know!" Jessica let out a girly squeal "But there all like, together, together."

"They're adopted right? So who cares?"

We were sitting at a table now; everyone was staring at me like I had an extra head, except for Angela who smiled just a little.

"I know but it's still weird…." Jessica waved her hand like she was trying to swat a bug.

"Not really, it doesn't matter." I rolled my eyes. I wasn't going to let her brand them as freaks without trying to get to know them.

"Whatever…." She rolled her eyes and turned to face one of her other friends.

Angela saved me before I could make a scene. "Are you liking Forks so far?"

"Uh... yeah I guess, as far as small towns go it's pretty nice." I had to watch my words carefully, stay in character.

"That's great!" Angela was probably the only kid in this whole school who actually cared about other people; she didn't want to use them to gain a popularity status or to make herself feel better. She might be the one thing at this school that would make enduring all this crap worth it. She would also be more resourceful than the others.

I smirked. "You haven't noticed anything… strange going on have you?" I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Small towns were prime targets for monsters.

"No… why?"

"No reason. I need to go make a call."

"Okay…." I heard Angela's puzzled response.

"The only strange thing around here is her…." Jessica's friends giggled at her little joke.

"I heard that…." I scowled as I took my tray and walked over to the trash can tossing my half eaten lunch inside. Now that I had found the mysterious Cullen clan and they seemed relatively normal. I really wanted to hear from Sam and Dean. I had kept my distance as much as I could, but I missed hearing from them.

I walked out of the building and checked to see if I was being followed, the Cullen's were still sitting at their table, and Jessica was still glued to her friends. She was probably telling them all kinds of stories that she 'heard' about me. I shook my head bitterly as I turned and walked away. I knew her kind too well.

I checked for security cameras, I know this is a small town school, but still. I walked around to the back of the building and dialled Sam's number, too chicken to call Dean's direct number.

His answering machine picked up after a few rings. I sighed, hoping he wasn't avoiding me. I heard the bell for the next class.

"Hey Sam… it's Bella, again. I just wanted to tell you that I enrolled in school. It's no big deal but just in case you can't get in touch with me…. Bye." I hung up, feeling like an idiot. I walked through the back door of the lunchroom, careful to dodge the kitchen staff. When I went into the lunch room I bumped into something. "Oh, sorry." I looked up and realized that it was a person. Edward Cullen. He gasped in surprise and went ridged like I had tased him. His hands reached out like he was going to stop me from falling but he snapped them back to his side, balling his fists up so tightly that his knuckles turned whiter. His skin was pale, but that wasn't out of the ordinary for kids that went to school here in cloudy U.S.A.

"Sorry about that." I tried to act like nothing happened as I bent down to pick my phone up.

"It's quite alright." His polite, yet strained, reply came out of pursed lips.

"You okay?" I brushed my hair behind me; it had all flopped forward when I bent down. "I didn't hurt you or anything did I?"

He swallowed loudly. "You are new around here… aren't you?" disregarding my question.

I stared into his eyes, they were black as night, chilling to look into but I found myself not being able to look away. I swallowed down visions of demons with pure black eyes like that. "Yeah, I just moved back a few weeks ago from Christo, North Dakota."

"Where's your next class? I could walk you, if you like." Half of his mouth turned up into a lopsided smirk, he didn't even flinch at the made up town name, Sam had told me during one of his demon research binges that demons flinched at the name of God in Latin. He's not a demon…. I kept telling myself, hoping that I would stop freaking out. I could still see white around his eyes. All I could think about was Dean and his deal and how perfect it would be if a demon came looking for me to wipe the rest of the Winchesters.

During my internal freak out session I realized that he was still waiting for an answer, looking at me like he was considering showing me to a panic room. "I have…" I wracked my brain, come on Bella you know this one! "Biology."

"I do as well, shall we?" He moved out of my way and gestured for me to follow him.

"Okay sure…." I was finally able to look away from his enchanting eyes and tried to remember how to walk. It was ridiculous that he should have this much power over me and he barely knew me. Whether or not he was a demon, he wasn't an ordinary human. I had no idea how to stop him. And that idea scared me more than anything….

"Do you like Forks?" He was trying to make small talk, unaware of how bad I was panicking.

"Not really…. The rain is depressing." I smirked as I looked up at the sky. I guessed the fear was making me more honest with him than I had been with others who asked me that question today.

"It can be depressing sometimes." His voice became strained again. I looked down at the ground and peeked up at his hands. They were balled up again and his knuckles where bone white from the tension.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright? You look a little pale." I commented as I noted his completion while staying away from his eyes. Pale in this town was normal but he was abnormally so.

He smirked a little. "I'm alright." He took a deep breath before looking away again.

I gripped the knife tucked in my jacket sleeve a little tighter and pulled the collar of my coat a little tighter around me. My heart was trying to leap out of my chest when I realized that we were going in circles. I needed to get my head in the game….

"Are you alright?" he seemed to notice my apprehension.

"Couldn't be better." I shoved my hands back into my jacket pockets.

"I left something out in the car, do you mind walking with me?" he turned to me and smiled slightly.

"I really have to get to class." My 'fight or flee' instincts started kicking in, this was it. I knew I wasn't a match for him, but maybe I could get away from him, or at least dart into a classroom and pray that they don't kick me out. He wasn't just hunting me, he was herding me away from the school.

"Please, I insist." He offered me his hand.

"Okay…." What?! What are you doing? I had looked into his eyes again. He took my hand in his and I noticed the drastic temperature difference. They were ice cold compared to mine. I had never touched a demon's skin before but I started sifting through what I knew about monsters with cold skin. He smiled briefly as we walked to the parking lot together. Of course his car was going to be the furthest away from the school, thankfully so was mine, I saw my car sitting three spaces down from him, if I could just make it….

"Nice wheels." I commented. Hanging around with Dean, I could appreciate a nice car like a Volvo S60R. I walked over to the car and I peered into the window to admire the upholstery. He may have been a monster but he had good taste in cars. In hindsight I know it was stupid to turn my back on him.

"Thank you." I barely heard his reply. I turned back around and heard him slam his hands on either side of me. I gasped as I realized I had no way out, I was trapped.

My heart started pounding. "What are you doing?" I still didn't know what he was and I had no way to fight him off.

I heard a growl coming deep from within his chest. "Why?"

"What are you talking about?!" Why was he asking me a question? "Leave me alone!"

"Why are you here? Why did you come here? You are ruining everything!" He was inches from my face at this point.

"Get away from me…." It was hard to concentrate with his face inches from mine; he was so devastatingly beautiful and terrifying. I didn't know what to think, his dark eyes eerily reminiscent of my nightmares about demons.

"No." he glared at me. "Why are you so important? Why did you have to do this?" He was less angry, more desperate, and still not making any sense.

"I said get the hell away from me!" I made a desperate last stand. I pulled my knife and watched as he backed away slowly, his face was a mask of anger and confusion. "Leave me alone…" I walked away from him and got into my car and I didn't look back. My hands started shaking as I gripped the wheel tighter. I didn't bother looking to see if I was being followed as I pulled out of the parking lot.

I didn't stop until I was parked in front of the house. I sat in the car until I heard someone knock on the window. I turned to see Charlie waiting at the passenger side door. I unclenched my stiff hand from the wheel and moved to roll the window down.

"You are home early." He smirked.

"I know." I tried to make my hands stop shaking.

"What's wrong?" He picked up on my nervousness.

"Nothing." I turned away from him and got out on the driver's side of the car.

"I know there's something wrong so you might as well tell me." He came around the front of the car and stood in front of me.

"I honestly don't know what just happened…." I wrapped my arms around myself as I leaned up against the hood. He didn't flinch at the name of God, so he must not be a demon. But he didn't fit any stereotypes of any other monster either. What was he?

"Tell me." He folded his arms across his chest.

"One of the Cullen's-" I couldn't force myself to say his name.

Charlie interrupted me before I could finish. "I hope you weren't causing trouble."

"He… tried to attack me…" I looked down at the ground. "I think…."

"What? Which one?" Charlie went for his gun and a shocked laugh escaped from my lips. This was his normal response to that kind of question but it still made me laugh to picture going after this guy with a weapon.

"Edward," I still blushed out of embarrassment for trying to take him on myself. "he was acting weird… and he trapped me between his car." Could it be that I was blushing like a moron over Edward himself? Like Jessica said he was nice to look at but he was also deadly. No, it's from my own embarrassment, nothing more.

"Did he... do anything?" Charlie was still angry but was more confused than anything.

I shook my head, still confused by the interaction myself.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He asked me why I was here, why I ruined everything…." I couldn't believe it myself. "I don't know what he was talking about."

"Do you want me to call the boys?" Charlie was a little out of his element with the whole 'parenting thing', he was trying though.

"No. They always cause more trouble than it's worth." Despite my fears, he wasn't a demon, which meant that I could take care of this problem myself. Dean and Sam tend to go overboard over stuff like this when I was personally involved.

"Maybe it could be for the best Bells."

"You don't think I can handle one little bully without my brother's help?" I tried to play it off as I smiled at him then started walking to the house. I needed to do research.

"Bella, they deserve to know." Charlie huffed as he followed me in.

"Fine, call them if you want to. But don't blame me when they freak out." I started up the stairs.

"I know they'll freak, but I think they'd wanna know." Charlie hollered up at me. I shook my head and smiled as I put my bag on the bed and changed into more comfortable clothes. I sighed at my laptop, wondering when I would be free to do research but knowing that Dean wouldn't accept that I was okay without hearing my voice for himself. When I came back down Charlie had the phone in his hand and was punching in Sam's number, maybe he would answer for Charlie.

"Hello?" I heard Sam's voice though it sounded a bit distorted through speakerphone.

"Sam. How are you doing?" Charlie gave me a nod as I walked down the final steps.

"Fine, just eating dinner." That explains the background noise.

"Tell Bella I said hey!" I laughed when I heard Dean's muffled voice, he was probably eating….

"Dean says hi." I could almost hear the smirk in Sam's tone.

"He's talking with his mouth full again isn't he?" I was leaning against the chair railing, imagining the whole scenario of the two of them sitting at a too small table with Sam's laptop on one end and a huge tray of food on Dean's side.

I heard him laugh "Yeah."

Charlie looked at me and mouthed 'You tell him.'

I shook my head 'No you.'

"Bella has something she wants to tell you." Charlie blurted out.

"Charlie I hate you…." I growled as I rolled my eyes.

"What's up?" Dean had cleared his throat.

"Something's going on at school. Nothing I can't handle." They were just going to spaz out about me because I was their little sister and also because it may or may not be something supernatural.

"School?" I heard Dean's incredulous reaction. "Since when did you become a nerd, kid?"

"Shut up." I grumbled.

"Did some guy try something?" Came Dean's angry question. How did I know that would be the next words out of his mouth?

"No Dean, calm down." I rolled my eyes. Good thing he couldn't see me because I would have been chewed out for that too.

"Then what's up Bells?" Sam's voice was a little bit annoyed.

"It's nothing, okay?" I was getting tired of being badgered by the men in my life.

"Just tell us Bells. I'm meeting someone in an hour." Dean's tone became whiny.

"A guy..." I started to say

"I knew it, what is his name; if I shoot him will he be missed?"

"Shut up Dean!" Sam and I said together.

"What did he do?" Dean asked trying to control his anger.

"He... he tried to attack me... It wasn't like anything I've seen. We've been attacked before, but it's been different."

"So not a human attack?" Sam questioned.

"No… I don't know what he is…" He certainly didn't fit the bill for anything I've seen. "But he started asking why I had to come here and ruin everything."

"Do we need to come in?" I could hear Dean shuffling around, probably getting his stuff together.

"No I'm okay. Charlie insisted on calling you guys." I grumbled.

"But still, if it's anything supernatural we should check it out." Oh how Sam's voice always has concern in it for me. They had bigger problems right now and I could handle whatever this was.

"I can check it out. Dean…." I couldn't stop myself; he shouldn't be doing reckless things. Not with the deal almost done. "I don't need you getting hurt."

I heard him scoff at me. "I'm a big boy I can handle myself."

"I'm just saying not to go out and get yourself killed." Especially when I can't be there to stop him, I amended to myself.

"Bella we've been through this…." I could hear his annoyance through the phone.

"I know. Don't get pissy. I'm just asking you to be careful and not rush into things." My tone matched his. Sometimes we were so alike that it was scary.

"I won't. And you do the same?" He was really concerned for me this time.

"Yeah sure." How could I say no to him? "I have a lot of homework to do. I'll talk to you guys later."

"By Bells." Sam replied.

"See ya kid." Dean's goodbye was almost cut off by the sound of the dial tone.


	7. Twice Scorned

**A/N: Hi guys! This week is Christmas for those of us who celebrate it! If you don't, then I hope you have a fantastic week!**

**Sorry about missing last week guys I'm so sorry! I'm gonna upload two chapters today so that I can get caught back up! And you can get a bonus for Christmas!**

**Disclaimer: The worlds of Supernatural and Twilight belong to their respective owners. I claim nothing but the adapted plot lines! **

**Chapter 6: Twice Scorned**

**September 19 – 24, 2007**

"Are you positive you want to go back?" The worry in Charlie's voice was absolutely unnecessary. I had already made up my mind.

"Charlie, it's gonna look weird if I come for one day and then never go back." I reminded him over my cereal. "Besides, I need to find out what's wrong with that Cullen guy." I had spent most of the night looking up local urban legends and came up with a few leads, today I had to test my theories today. I had my supplies in my backpack.

"Why don't you let me worry about him okay?" He looked genuinely concerned for me. "I don't want you to get worked up over nothing."

"Charlie, I _need_ to be working." I was going stir crazy in this house; there was nothing to do here. And I couldn't talk to Dean and Sam about it, they'd just freak out like they did last night. None of the kids here would get it either. Maybe I could call Jo, I haven't heard from her in ages. It would be nice to have some 'abnormal girl time'. I didn't realize how boring it was to be normal.

"No, you need to be studying for your algebra test." Charlie pulled my algebra class schedule out of my book bag and saw where the teacher had circled the first test date in red ink. Who schedule's a test on the first week back to school?

I groaned as I got up and took my bowl to the sink and washed it out before putting it in the dish drainer. I picked up my bag and snatched the schedule out of his hand. "I'll show you an algebra test…"

I could hear him as I was opening the front door to go out say, "I heard that."

I couldn't wait to get to school, yes those words just came out of my mouth, but it was strictly business related. I needed to get more information about the Cullen's. The only one that I had met 'up close and personal' was Edward, and there was certainly something strange about him, monster or not. I talked to a few of my classmates and they all gave me the same story: They moved here a year ago from Alaska, keep to themselves and are all together. The father works at the hospital and not much is known about the mother. I found all this out before lunch; this piqued my interest for having another encounter with them. I clutched my bag tightly to me and waited for my opportunity.

"Why are you asking so many questions about them?" Jessica retorted slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry." I played innocent. "I'm just interested in them, aren't you?"

"Well yeah." She rolled her eyes. "I just keep my obsession contained."

I looked at her skeptically, _sure you do…_. "So it doesn't bother you that they don't interact with the rest of us?"

"That makes them more appealing!" She gushed. "Their mystery makes you wonder what's going on behind those pretty faces."

Angela and I exchanged looks of amusement at Jessica's stupidity and we went to pay for our lunch. I casually scanned the crowded lunchroom. They were sitting at the same table as yesterday but I saw that one of them was missing. Edward was nowhere to be found. I asked the girls about him when we sat down.

"I wonder where he is." Angela sounded genuinely concerned for him.

"I hope he isn't sick!" Sometimes Jessica astounded me with how she lacked a human soul. "That would be terrible!"

"You talkin' about Cullen?" A boy came up behind us. "He left after lunch yesterday; at least I didn't see him in Bio." So he left school after me too huh? Interesting….

"Mike!" Jessica scooted over to make room for his tray and chair that he had drug over from another table.

"Ladies." He nodded to the other girls. "And who is this?" He wagged his eyebrows at me. At least I knew how to deal with this one, I smiled shyly.

"This is Bella, she just moved here." Jessica was trying to get Mike's attention again but his eyes were glued on me, even better.

"Nice to meet you." I offered him my hand.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine." He took my hand and kissed it gently. Wow, I think he has a copy of 'The Idiots Guide to Women written by Dean Winchester'. I bit my lip trying to hide my smile while Jessica nearly fell out of her chair from shock.

"Bella, where did you go after lunch yesterday? I didn't see you in Bio." Angela piped up. Opse didn't think that one through. They all turned to stare at me. I wondered if they thought I had gone off with Edward.

"I left early, I had a stomach ache." I pushed my food around my plate hoping to play the part well. "But I'm fine, Charlie wanted me to stay home but I couldn't miss spending time with my new friends." Trying not to gag as Jessica smiled at the word 'friend'.

"You're in Biology next? That's awesome, so am I, we should walk together!" Mike was getting a little too close for comfort.

"Okay... sure..." I scooted further away from him.

"It's a bummer that I'm not in that class." Jessica tried to gain Mikes attention again by resting her hand on his shoulder and putting her head towards him.

"Yeah sure..." He waved at her dismissively and pulled away from her.

Jessica's face turned red with embarrassment and anger. I was enjoying this way more than I should. I added in an eye roll for Jessica's benefit. Then the bell rang and the kids started filing out.

"Perfect timing!" He got up and Jessica nearly fell out of her chair from where she was leaning against him.

"Hey!" It looked like she would have shot daggers into his back if she could.

"Oh sorry Jess." He turned back to me. Angela had already made it to the door and was waiting on us. I turned back and looked at Jessica's face, she was mortified and, to my amazement, disappointed. I kind of felt bad for her, as much as I was enjoying her downfall from being Miss Perfect, I really did feel sorry for her.

"Are you ok?" I asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah, I'm just... awesome..." She spat back with venom.

I heard Mike calling from the door now. "Come on Bella, we're going to be late!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist Mike!" I shouted back, and then turned to Jessica. "If you want me too, I'll talk to Mike and get him to ask you out. I can see you kinda have a thing for him."

"No, it's okay Bella!" She sneered at me.

"I'm sorry for trying to be nice." I glared back.

"Whatever." She shoved past me and when she reached Mike at the door she flipped her hair as she walked in front of him and then went to her next class. I walked over to Mike and he looked confused. Angela rolled her eyes and started walking away from the cafeteria.

"What's her problem?" Mike frowned after Jessica, whose anger had propelled her half way across campus by now.

"I don't know…." I started to follow Angela and Mike was matching my stride. I tried not to giggle as I imagined him with a wagging tail.

"So I didn't get to meet you yesterday, do you like Forks?"

I sighed, that's a new one. I hadn't heard it 30 times already. "It's wet and cold. Not really my thing." It wasn't his fault my irritation had boiled over, okay, it was sort of his fault but I am trying to play the innocent girl card here.

"I hear you; I'm a California boy myself." He stopped to do a surfer pose and held up a 'hang lose' sign with his right hand. Then he flashed me a smile, I laughed a little. He was kind of nice, as far as jerks go, but I don't think he realizes how his actions come across to others. Jessica was obviously into him but he had no clue.

"Awesome, I'm from Kansas originally."

"'There's no place like home' right?" Mike smirked.

"I haven't been there in a while. I visited once since I was six months old." The only reason that I went back is because we thought we could get the drop on Yellow Eyes. I would probably never set foot in Lawrence, Kansas ever again. There are too many bad memories in that place.

"So what brought you from Kansas to Forks?" He was trying to get information about me, like everyone else but he was being overly friendly about it.

"My dad died recently, so I'm just having some time to myself." Why was I telling this insignificant boy my life's story? It's not like he really cared, he struck me as a "love me and leave me" type of guy.

Then he gave me the standard awkward reply. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay." I crossed my arms. I realized my goof; Charlie had enrolled me as his daughter, not as his orphaned ward. Not that I thought Mike had the skills to hack into the school system and verify that I was getting caught in a lie, but the more people that know the truth, the dangerous it was for the both of us. I would have to choose my words carefully.

"Any brothers or sisters?"

"Two brothers and they're away working."

"What do they do?" I thought my sigh wasn't very loud but he heard it. "Sorry, you must get so tired of the same questions all the time."

"Kinda…." My thoughts drifted back to Edward and the weird questions he had asked. "Hey… Edward Cullen was acting really weird yesterday. Is he normally like that?"

Mike grunted and shrugged his shoulders. "Cullen is a freak, they all are." Then he rolled his eyes. "But he was acting freakier than usual yesterday."

I appraised him skeptically, was he saying that because it was true or did he think I was interested in Edward? "Why?"

He sighed angrily, "I don't know… they don't really fit in, like they are just coasting. But they act like they are better than everyone else. I mean have you seen the cars they drive?"

"Those heaps of trash? I wouldn't drive one if they paid me." Although Edwards Volvo was a grand piece of machinery. "The classics are so much better."

"That's what I've been saying!" His whole face lit up like a kids on Christmas. "What kind of cars are you into?"

"All kinds of classic cars really." I couldn't tell if he was just saying that to find some common ground or not. "My brother has a 1967 Chevy Impala."

"The Impala is my favorite." He wasn't looking at me, one of the tale-tale signs of a liar.

"I'm sure it is." I muttered to myself. "Have you seen Edward today? I didn't see him at lunch." I hoped he couldn't see the faint blush on my cheeks. Maybe he would register it as a reaction to the cold.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he turned back to me. "No, haven't seen him. Why are you so interested in him? He's a total snob."

"I was just wondering, that's all." I rolled my eyes and turned straight ahead.

"He's a weirdo." Mike kicked a rock that was in his way on the sidewalk and shuffled the rest of the way to class.

"Well here's our biology class. Too bad we can't sit together."

"Yeah… too bad…." If these boys didn't stop, I might have to get a hose.

I took my forged doctor's note to the teacher and he gave me a textbook and sent me to the one empty lab table. I noticed that Edward wasn't sitting in any of the spare chairs. Then I realized that the empty chair beside me must be for him. I tried not to gulp as I sat down.

I couldn't really pay attention in class, I was worried that any second he would come bursting through the door and come back to the desk and snap my neck right then and there.

I doodled aimlessly in the notebook so it looked like I was paying attention. I couldn't decide which freaked me out more, the fact that I was pretty sure I should have died yesterday or the fact that I had this strange obsession with the boy. Before I knew it I had drawn his terrifyingly beautiful dark eyes about six times. I scrubbed them away with my eraser and flipped the page over when the eraser didn't work.

He was different from the other students that I had met on my first day here. He didn't ask the standard questions that I had been prepared for. It was like he could see straight through my charade and knew exactly who I was. Although, it's safe to assume that every supernatural creature had heard of the three kids that took on a demon all by themselves by now. But Edward looked more concerned for himself and his family's well-being.

By the end of the period I was able to relax a little. Mike shot up as soon as the bell rang and came back to my desk. "What's your next class?"

What a surprise, we had the same gym class too….

By the end of the day I hadn't seen any more of the Cullen's. I was starting to wonder if they had cleared out.

I had put on my street clothes and was walking out to the car when I spotted them in the back of the parking lot. They were talking amongst themselves all huddled up like everyone else. The blonde girl looked like she was having a heated discussion with the big guy, and the blonde boy was people watching. His attention was drawn by the smaller girl placing her hand in his and she gave him an encouraging smile.

I got into the car, trying to warm up. I missed the Impala on days like this. I never truly appreciated that car's heater until I didn't have a decent one. Maybe Charlie has some tools in the garage that I could try and fix this thing.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Cullen's looking at my car as I passed, well the blonde was glaring. I paid them no attention as I kept my eyes on the road.

I had to make a supply run today. I didn't have time too after what happened yesterday. I had my list in hand as I walked into the store, trying to ignore the strange looks from people as I stocked up on salt, iron and other supplies. I would need Charlie to get me a gun and some spare rounds that I could make into rock salt and iron bullets. The only problem was that I was trying to smuggle a gun on to a school campus. It would be hard to do, thankfully there were no metal detectors in this place but I did find out from one kid that they like to do surprise inspections of lockers and book bags. Eh, that was something to deal with later.

I glanced down at my phone and saw that Charlie would be home in about 30 minutes. As an afterthought I picked up a cookbook and threw it in the cart. The store clerk's expression was the best I had seen so far. I gave him a lame excuse like 'I like my food salty.' and hastily made it out the door with my purchases.

When I had gotten home I made sure to salt every door and window and made a list of all the things that were made of iron in the house and which room they were in. I also put up some of the few warding symbols that I had learned over the years in some black light paint that I happened across in the store. I figured Charlie wouldn't be too happy with me spray painting the walls of his house. But he would want it protected, so this was kinda the best case scenario. I mean it's not like we have a lot of visitors.

It was so weird being back home, strangely I was getting back into the habit quicker than I expected. After those first two treacherous days I knew what to expect of my days. Though each one would start with the anticipation of seeing _him_ again, by the time lunch was over though, I could let out a sigh of relief and actually enjoy people's company. Mike would sit next to me in biology up until the bell rang. We would talk about all the places we had gone. His dad was in the military so they had traveled a lot. Angela and I would talk about the different books we had read. And eventually Jessica got over her 'pity me' party and seemed generally happy talking to me.

Before I knew it, a week had gone by. I didn't realize it until Mike told me on Friday to have a good weekend. If he hadn't told me that I guess I would have shown up on Saturday and wondered where everyone was. Charlie and I sat down to eat supper that night and we talked about our plans for the weekend. He usually spent all his free time down at the station, a result of having no family to come home to, partially my fault. I asked him about the gun, he frowned but eventually agreed. "It doesn't look right for the sheriff's daughter to be carrying around a gun on school property."

I had just rolled my eyes and continued eating. Saturday morning he called and told me that he was able to get one and he had scheduled an hour block at the range for the two of us. I was off a little, it had been a while since I had practiced hitting a target, but I still outshot Charlie.

"How do you do that?" Charlie frowned as he peered down the sights of his gun, like it was the guns fault he didn't shot correctly. I just laughed, taking my goggles and headphones off and pulled my light brown hair out of the pony tail. I didn't bother to change my look to go to the range. It was nice to think I didn't have to concentrate on the façade all the time. Thankfully no one seemed to recognize me at the range; I was afraid that someone would see me and ruin my whole charade.

After that I drove back home and did some "domesticated work", cleaning the house, doing laundry, and doing homework. Charlie came home around five o'clock and we went down to the diner; I had done so much work that I was too exhausted to cook. Charlie had told me that Billy called him at work today and was talking about Dean. I tried not to make a face. Billy had looked differently at me since I had told him about Cold Oak. It was almost like I was an evil presence in his life.

"Billy is just concerned for you that's all." Charlie noticed my irritation.

"Yeah, he's worried that I might go 'dark side' and kill everyone." I frowned.

Billy had been doing some research and counseling with the other elders and may have a solution to Dean's problem. I was a bit skeptical, I'm pretty sure there were no Native American stories about a man that sold his soul to a demon for his family's lives, but hey, if it makes the old man feel helpful…. The whole rest of the night I thought about Sam and Dean. I wondered where they were, if they were doing alright, was Dean getting on Sam's nerves yet. I contemplated for the better part of an hour on whether or not to call them and check on them. It had been a week, which was how long you were supposed to wait to call right?

I picked up the phone and dialed Sam's direct line. I was afraid to call Dean's. I didn't want to get worried if he didn't answer. But Sam's went into voicemail after four rings and after his message went off I left a quick voicemail.

"Hey Sam, its Bella, just wanted to check up on you guys and see how you were doing. Please call me back if you want me to stay sane, otherwise I'll go nuts not knowing where you are. Please be careful and safe okay? Love you."

Then I got my pajama's on and crawled into bed. I had forgotten how daunting cleaning a house was. The next time I get on the road and stay in a motel I was going to hug the first cleaning lady I saw. I don't know how they clean all those motel rooms especially in the state we sometimes left them in. It also made me reconsider how messy I had been in the past. I made another mental note to pick up after myself better. This was going to be my home for a little while I needed to take better care of it.

Sunday past by in a blur, nothing noteworthy happened. I mostly finished the cleaning that I had put off from the day before, and then it was the start of a new week. I was met at my car by my 'handlers' as I liked to refer to them as. Eric and Mike were on either side of me and walked me to my first class. I spent the entire class trying to think of an escape plan to get away from Eric at least, Mike looked like a sad puppy when he told me goodbye at the door. At least I didn't have to worry about him dragging me off to class after class. By lunchtime I was having a really good day, Jessica and I had met up with Angela, Mike and Eric, we were sitting at the table when Jessica ruined my parade.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you."


	8. Savior?

**A/N: So terribly sorry everyone! I have just gotten back into school after being out for two years and it has really hit me hard! **

**I have no time to write anymore but I am trying! I have it all written up to chapter 21 so I will continue to upload the chapters that I have I promise! **

**Thank you all for the reviews and favorites! I really appreciate them! **

**Disclaimer: The worlds of Supernatural and Twilight belong to their respective owners. I claim nothing but the adapted plot lines! **

**Chapter 7: Savior?**

**September 24 – 25, 2007**

Suddenly my appetite was gone.

How had he slipped through my senses? How could I have let my guard down? I tried to get myself to calm down, no need to get worked up and let the others know. Jessica would probably point it out and try to embarrass me by saying I had a crush on the guy, then Mike, which is probably my only protection from him at this point, would get mad and then not walk me to class. And my only defense from this weirdo was a hunting knife tucked away in my jacket pocket and an illegally acquired hand gun with rock salt bullets. I was completely and totally screwed….

I wiped my hands on my pants to get rid of the sweat that was beading up on my palms.

"He's still staring." Jessica sang into my ear. My muscles were so wound and tense that I almost punched her for scaring me.

"Stop gawking at him!" I glared at her; thankfully Mike was talking with a friend of his so he didn't notice my little outburst. I tried to keep my tone calm. "You are only making it worse!" She snickered and looked away.

The bell for next period rang too soon. I reluctantly got up and walked with Mike to the door. I risked a glance back at their table; they were still sitting there, still as statues none of them were looking my way. One could only hope that he would stay away. I kept looking behind me to make sure we weren't being followed. Mike asked me why I was so jumpy but I shook it off and told him I was nervous about class.

I looked at the desk that I would now have to share with _him_ and there was no one sitting there, though it did nothing to ease the tension that was balling up in the pit of my stomach. I walked with Mike to his table and then reluctantly walked back to my table. I felt defenseless without my human shield. Our desk was in the middle of the classroom, basically wide open for an attack and several options for escape but how many of them could I get to before he closed in to attack?

_Calm down_, I tried to focus, my panic was threatening to bubble over, he may not even show up. I doodled on my notebook and tried to work out an escape plan. I kept my eyes on my work, and heard the unmistakable scrape of the chair dragging across the linoleum.

My teeth were trying to bite through my lip. Was he going to say something first or was he expecting me to start? I peaked at him through the curtain that my hair provided between the two of us. His fists were clenched tightly, white over his knuckles, and his whole body was tensed just like that first day. Then I looked up at his face, there was something different about him, I couldn't quite figure it out then he turned slightly to look in my direction. I turned back to the front and started doodling again.

"Hey." I heard him say. It was odd, his voice sounded so different than a week ago, less hostel. I stared straight ahead and ignored him. "What?"

"Hey?" I hissed. "You threaten me on my first day, skip town for the week and all you have to say for yourself is 'hey'? Are you that much of a douche?" I kept my hands on my silver and iron pieces in my pockets, ready to put my theories to the test.

Then I realized the change, his eyes were different, not the dark black that I had been expecting but a strange golden tint to them. My first reaction was of fear. The only other person I had met with eyes like those had killed my father and tried to kill my brothers and me…. Yellow eyes…. But I tried to beat the thoughts of him back and focus on the present. I had already said _Christo_ and it didn't work so I knew he wasn't a demon. I needed to focus or I was going to end up dead. I kept my face blank of any other emotion except for anger. I could work that, I was angry at yellow eyes, still am actually.

He was shocked by my little outburst, clearly not expecting that. "Bella, I'm sorry for my actions." He did sound truly sorry, but I had seen too many liars in the past that I didn't believe him.

"I don't care if you're sorry." I turned back to the front of the class. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mike looking in our direction.

There was a long pause, he had leaned away from me. "Bella, please listen to me."

"Why should I? Screw you." I had to lower my voice because Mr. Banner had started his lecture.

"I wasn't feeling well that day." He offered me a lame excuse.

"As if that caused you to attack me?" I turned slightly and glared at him.

"Mental disorder?" Another excuse, he was smiling like he was enjoying himself… does he think this is a game?

"Yeah right."

Mr. Banner called on him to answer a question and from that moment on he left me alone and focused on the lecture. Once the bell rang I picked up my books and my bag and headed for the door. I was too angry to do any of my tests. Somehow Edward kept up with me and followed me out the door.

"Look, at least let me make up for my bad behavior." He was grasping at straws. Why was he trying so hard to be in my good graces? Although the saying 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' kept running through my head I couldn't help but be leery of him.

"Fine, but stay away from me." He could make up for it that way. I was going to keep tabs on him anyway; he wasn't going to go away so easily.

"It's gonna be hard for me to make it up to you if you're gonna get a restraining order against me." His voice was teasing but there was a subtle hint of something I couldn't pin down… sadness maybe?

"Well boo-hoo for you." I smiled sweetly at him. I really didn't care about his problems. I had my own to deal with.

He sighed. "I can see that this isn't getting us anywhere."

"Yeah it isn't." I started to walk a little faster.

"Come on..." he grabbed my wrist to turn me around. "Please give me a chance to redeem myself." It didn't hurt, he was using a little force but I had a feeling that he could easily break the bones in my wrist if he wanted to. His hands were ice cold, even with the temperature dropping outside his hands were still colder than that. It almost reminded me of being in a meat locker.

"Don't. Touch. Me." I growled, then tried to punch him but he ducked out of the way.

"What's it going to take to convince you?" I looked into his eyes again and couldn't help myself from getting swept up in them… it's not fair that he cheated like that…. They weren't pale yellow like the demons had been but a golden yellow with darker swirls in its depths. Something in those eyes made all of my fears go away and replace them with an unnatural calm.

"A hell of a lot." My anger had subsided, but I was trying to keep it up, and failed miserably. His eyes were hypnotic; I finally looked away from him, clearing my head a bit.

His face became solemn. "Then from this day forth I shall make it my mission to regain your trust."

"Why are you even bothering?" It bothered _me_ a lot more than it should.

"I'm not really sure myself." It sounded like he was talking more to himself than me.

"Then don't."

"You've got a bit of a temper don't you?" he smirked. "We'll have to fix that."

"You'd have a temper if someone tried to _kill_ you." I looked down. "And you still haven't let go of my hand."

"I'm sorry." He let go of me. My wrist prickled a little as the blood rushed back to my hand.

"I have to get going. Class starts in a few." I took a step back from him.

"Wait please." He extended his hand towards me but then let it drop. His face caught me off guard. It was as if I was saying I'd ran over the family dog.

"What do you want?" I bit my lip, hesitant.

"Please accept my apology." Whoa, wasn't expecting that. His voice and face were so sincere; it was as if he was truly sorry for threatening me.

_What kind of monster is he?_ I thought to myself.

My eyes were wide with awe. "Fine, I accept. I don't even know why I should."

His lips turned up on one side into a lopsided smile and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." I replied sarcastically and rolled my eyes before walking away.

I ended up having to run to gym thanks to that nut job, and that only made matters worse because we had to run the whole period for track and field outside. By the end of the day I was too tired to move, but I found the energy to go on by thinking about Sam and Dean. If I had to, I would track them down myself just to see them for a while. It was strange not hearing from them in so long. I was so used to sharing thoughts with Sam that it was kind of nice to have my head to myself for a change. But still, I missed my boys.

The next day was a little better. I looked over at the Cullen's lunch table and noticed that Edward wasn't sitting with them. Actually I couldn't see him sitting at any of the tables. I was starting to get angry because I thought he had skipped town again but then he was sitting at our table in Biology when I walked into the class. He didn't have much to say today which was good because neither did I. I looked out the window and sighed as it started to snow.

"What's wrong?" I heard him ask quietly.

"I don't like the cold remember?" I smiled a little bit. "The snow is pretty and all that but why does it have to be so cold?"

"I'm not sure." He smiled back.

Then he went back to paying attention to Mr. Banner, we were doing a lab today and I had a chance to slip iron and silver to him and he didn't react to either. So that ruled out a few possibilities on my monster list. We worked in silence, only talking when we needed to have another slide or to tell the other what we saw in the microscope. In the corner of my mind I realized how well we worked together and I almost forgot that he was some unknown monster. He was very careful never to touch me or to get to close to me. Maybe he was trying to figure out what I was too.

Before I knew it class was over. Edward got up his stuff and walked out the door before I could even blink this time. Maybe he was trying to give me the space that I had asked him for. Who knows with that fruit loop…

By this point I was out at the car. There was an unmistakable chill in the air that I was starting to hate. I pulled out the hat that Sam had given me two Christmases ago and pulled it over my ears and then pulled my gloves on trying to warm up. The weather man said that it was supposed to be getting colder, and since it had rained yesterday there was probably a nice sheet of ice on the roads waiting for me to slide right across. I made up my mind right then and there that this town had absolutely no redeemable qualities. If the boys ever came in I would have to handcuff myself to one of them and force them to take me away from this town and head for a warmer climate.

"Where is that phone?" I patted my pockets and then put my bag on the hood of the truck searching for my phone. I had wanted to call Dean and see where they were. It was like the two of them were avoiding me. The parking lot was very quiet; the gloom in the air hung over it like a dark rain cloud. I looked up and didn't see many people hanging out by their cars. You know it's freezing if all the locals are too cold to sit outside. As I was still rummaging through my bag I saw a flash of movement by a familiar silver car.

Edward was staring at me again. "What the hell?" I was confused. If he wasn't careful, I _would_ have to get a restraining order against him, or put a bullet in him. He was on the far side of the parking lot, not bothering to join in his sibling's conversation. Then a piercing screech filled the air and I had just enough time to see a blue van skidding around the corner headed straight for me.

_This can't be happening again._ I was frozen in place, I was screaming at my feet to move but it was as if the ice on the ground had snaked its way up my legs and routed me to my spot. I felt something cold and hard knock into me and then everything went black.

…

"What… happened?" I woke up in a hospital bed. I couldn't remember anything, but slowly the pieces were starting to come back. Sam had been driving, Dad was in the passenger seat, and I was trying to get Dean to wake up. The demon had done a number on him before he had turned on me.

"You were involved in a car accident dear." A nurse patted my arm and smiled sympathetically.

"Are my brothers okay?! My Dad…." I tried to sit up but got very dizzy and then thought it would be best to lie back down. I needed to check on Dean though… _Sam? _I called out with my mind but no one answered. _Sam?!_

The nurse fixed me with a perplexed stare. "Charlie arrived a few minutes ago dear."

"Charlie?" What was Charlie doing here? Had Dad called him?

She got done checking my vitals and muttered to herself. "Edward said she hit her head pretty hard…."

"I heard that." I scowled at her. Now it was clear to me. I was reliving that car crash caused by the demon. Sam and Dean weren't even here and Dad…. I felt incredibly stupid.

"I'll let Dr. Cullen know you are awake." She smiled again and left me alone.

"Not like I can just walk out." I rolled my eyes. I decided to check myself out. I wasn't in pain, but that didn't mean anything, I could still be in a morphine induced stupor. I tried to look down at my legs and realized that I was wearing a neck brace. I rolled my eyes and jerked the thing off and shoved it under the bed. Other than a few cuts and scrapes, and a splitting headache, I was totally fine.

"Bella…?" I heard someone calling my name. I looked over in the next bed to see Tyler Crowley, a boy in my government class, though it was hard to make him out at first underneath all the bloody gauze.

"Hey Tyler."

"I'm so sorry Bella! I lost control!" He must have been the driver of the van. He looked really busted up. He had deep gashes all over his body and it looked like he was having trouble breathing.

"It's ok Tyler, I wasn't hurt." The difference between the two of us was alarming. By all accounts that van should have flattened me like the Sunday pancake special at the diner.

Then the doors to the ER burst open and Charlie was barreling his way towards the two of us. "Bella!" he called out, all the while glaring at Tyler.

"Hey Char- Dad..." I almost slipped up again.

"How are you?" he kept darting between the two of us, flipping back and forth between concern for me and anger for Tyler.

I rolled my eyes. "M'fine."

"Sure..." then he turned on Tyler. "You can kiss your license goodbye."

I sighed angrily, it didn't take him long to regain his 'overprotective Dad' mode. "He didn't do anything… I'm not hurt."

"That's why you're lying in the hospital." Charlie growled back at me.

"I'm so sorry." I couldn't tell who Tyler was apologizing to that time.

"Save it." Charlie pulled the curtain between them shut. "What the hell happened Bella?"

"The van lost control, but before it hit me something slammed into me coming from the other direction. Edward Cullen… I think he saved me. But I could've sworn he was across the lot beside his car." I was sure of that. He had been leaning against his car, trying to casually glance in my direction.

Charlie frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah…." I kept thinking back to last week when he had nearly killed me, if he was willing to kill me, then why not let Tyler's van do the job. Why save me? "Keep an eye on him Charlie."

He nodded sternly "I will. Look Bells, the nurse said you were asking about the boys and your Dad?"

I looked out the window, embarrassed. "Don't worry, she thought I was delirious. I... I thought I was back in the accident, before Dad..." I couldn't finish my sentence; I closed my eyes and tried to picture him. I was so afraid that I wouldn't remember what he looked like. My fingers closed around my locket tightly.

"Oh..." He couldn't really think of anything to say to that.

I looked down at the locket again and undid the fastener to look at my parents again.

"Have you heard from them recently?" Charlie spoke up again and I assumed he was talking about Sam and Dean.

I huffed. "No, those idiots seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth."

"Do you want me to call them?" He offered. Maybe they would answer if Charlie called.

"Yeah, they'd wanna know."

"I'll let them know, don't worry." He smiled.

"Have you seen Edward?" I knew that nurse said he was talking about me, and his Dad works here…. I needed some answers, now.

"He was down the hall talking to Dr. Cullen." He pointed to the door.

I sighed angrily. "Ugh!"

Charlie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Promise me you won't go harassing the boy, especially after he saved you from being a pancake. I know what he did to you last week was wrong but maybe he's changed."

"Yeah… whatever Charlie." I made no attempts to hide my scowl.

"Alright, I'm gonna go get your discharge papers and call the boys."

"See ya." I watched him go back down to the swinging doors and then another flurry of nurses came in to check on me and Tyler. Apparently we were the only two kids in the ER. It must have been a slow day. I could still hear Tyler mumbling apologies to me through the curtain.

The second time the nurses came in they were following a tall man with blonde hair and familiar set of golden eyes. It was unmistakable who this man was, the patriarch of the Cullen's, Dr. Carlisle Cullen. I noticed towards the back of the medical procession the familiar tousle of auburn hair. He stayed further back though, instead of joining his father. Maybe he realized how much trouble he was in.

"Well, Isabella." Dr. Cullen smiled at me briefly before looking at my chart.

"Bella." I corrected him automatically.

He looked back at me and smiled again. "Well, Bella, looks like you took quite a spill. How are we feeling?"

"Good…." There was no denying how handsome he was either, no wonder the nurses all gushed when they talked about him.

"Your X-rays came up fine, so we have decided to send you home. But come back if you have any signs of concussion." He signed my chart with a distinct flourish and gave me another smile.

"You know it would have been worse if Edward hadn't been there to pull me out of the way." I hinted, glancing over at the guy in question who was still hanging back away from us. Dr. Cullen glanced up at his son before returning back to his paperwork. "It was amazing. He got to me so fast though he was nowhere near me."

"Sounds like you were very lucky then…." He glanced over at Edward once more before he looked back at me with a small smile. I narrowed my eyes, he must be in on it….

"Does _he_ have to stay?" I pointed at Edward, who had crept closer to us but stopped when I looked at him.

"Only if you would like him to stay." He must have noticed the tension between the two of us.

I snorted. "He can do whatever the hell he wants." Carlisle exchanged a look with Edward before he turned his attention back to me. Then I sighed. "But I do need to talk to him."

"Of course." Carlisle threw one last pleading glance at his son before he went over to Tyler and started talking to him.

He walked towards me slowly. It was almost as if he was calculating every step he took towards me. "What do you want to talk to me about?" he asked in a hushed voice, keenly aware of Tyler and his father next to us.

"What happened back there? You were across the lot!" I hissed back quietly.

"I was standing right next to you." He smiled.

There was no way he was going to side track me with that smile again "I know what I remember. I notice a lot of things." _I_ have_to_.

He let out a sigh of amusement. "You hit your head pretty hard; I think you're confused."

"Cut the crap." I was tired of playing this little game of charades with him. "I know what I saw. I've seen weirder and worse stuff believe me."

"Can we talk about it later?" He asked and then walked away before I could reply.

"Or we can talk about it now!" I swung my legs over the bedside and tried to ignore the dizziness that came with it and followed him.

"Bella, no. I'm not discussing this." He kept walking out the door.

"Yes, you are!"

He stopped short in front of me turned, his eyes were wide. "Bella, just drop it." he started to turn back to walk away from me again.

"No!" _I _was the one who grabbed him this time. His skin was still deadly cold. "If you don't have anything to hide then why are you being so evasive?"

"You know, it's really none of your business." The bitter tone from last week started creeping back into his voice. He pulled his hand away angrily.

"You involving me in this _made_ it my business." I stood my ground.

"You know, you could at least thank me for saving your life." He scowled.

"I don't need your help." I retorted.

Then his tone turned mocking. "You won't ever know so I hope you enjoy disappointment." He shook his head and walked away.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" I was getting ready to go after him but Charlie grabbed my hand.

"Slow down there. What's going on?"

"Honestly, I don't know." I said through clenched teeth. "Have you called the boys yet?" instead of answering me Charlie handed me the phone.

I heard Dean's panicked voice in the receiver. "Bella, what in God's name happened?!"

I sighed. "Hey Dean…." Edward had already disappeared into the crowd, I cursed internally.

"How are you? What happened?" His questions started blurring together.

"Geez Dean, don't have a stroke." I meant that to come out jokingly, but it didn't.

"Bella..." Apparently Dean didn't find it funny either.

"I'm fine…." _I'm regretting this already…. _They were going to over react to every phone call.

"Tell me, damn it."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine, slight head concussion, but I've had worse."

Sam chimed in this time; he must have me on speaker. "We can come get you."

I hesitated, every nerve in me screamed for me to say yes, I wanted nothing more than to have this town in the rear view of the Impala. But there was still something off about these Cullen's, at least with Edward anyway. Why was I so curious about him, I wasn't sure, but he was certainly on the list. "Don't bother." Sam was about to protest but I cut him off. "Don't you 'Bella' me. You guys have work to do. I can handle this myself. And Dean, you have no right to tell me what to do, since you screwed up royally." I hit 'end' on the keypad and hung up on them then handed the phone back to Charlie.

"That bad huh?" Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"Like I said, I can handle this myself." I think it's about time for me and Edward to have a nice long chat. I started walking in the general direction that he had been going down but Charlie stopped me.

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Bell, maybe you should take a few days off? You seem a little edgy. I mean, you nearly got taken out by a van, you deserve a few days off, from everything, including your… extracurricular activities."

"I'm fine Charlie. I've had worse." I lowered my voice. "This time seven months ago I was dead."

"That was before you came to live here." He squared his shoulders and faced me head on.

"True, but evil is just gonna follow me Charlie." So far it had kept up with me. I was crazy for ever thinking any differently.

"I can hold down the fort for a few days. I mean wasn't the whole point in coming here to have a vacation from all the crap?" He looked me in the eye with nothing but concern for me.

"If there's something there to fight I'm gonna fight it." I looked back at him with my own determined look. That was what I was here for, the Family Business.

Then he smirked. "Making mountains out of molehills, your specialty." He pulled me in to a hug.


End file.
